Abstract

This essay traces the beginnings of the formalist notion of “l'art pour l'art”, or art for art's sake, proposed by Théophile Gautier's in the groundbreaking preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin. Gautier's contributions to Parisian culture spanned almost half a century, beginning with his youthful defense of Romanticism, to the aestheticism of his famous novel „Mademoiselle de Maupin”, to his leadership in the circle of formalist poets associated with Le Parnasse. He wrote on a wide range of topics, including literature, art and dance. However, Gautier is best known for his preface to „Mademoiselle de Maupin” (1834), where he proposes the modern aesthetics of art for art's sake, which would have a big impact on art and literature, all the way to the twentieth-century formalist movement.

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