Robert de Montesquiou

See also: Montesquiou

The count Robert de Montesquiou-Fézensac , more commonly called Robert de Montesquiou , is a man of letters and a dandy born in Paris the March 7th 1855 and died in Menton (the Alpes-Maritimes) the December 11th 1921.

The fascination exerted by its character on his contemporaries in made the model of many heroes of novels: of Esseintes in In Rebours (1884) of Huysmans, the count de Muzaret in Mister de Phocas (1901) of Lorraine Jean and, of course, the baron de Charlus in With the research of time lost of Marcel Proust.

Biography

Marie Joseph Robert Anatole de Montesquiou-Fézensac, fourth and last child of Pauline Duraux and the count Thierry de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1824 - 1904), are resulting from a famous line originating in Gascogne, which counts among its ancestors Blaise de Montluc and of Artagnan.

In 1885, Montesquiou met Gabriel de Yturri (1868 - 1905), of Peruvian origin, which became its secretary, his companion and perhaps his lover. Though doubtless homosexual, Montesquiou most probably carried out a pure life, carefully avoiding giving the least taken to the scandal.

After the death of Gabriel de Yturri following a diabetes, it was replaced as secretary, in 1908, by Henri Pinard, whose Montesquiou made the legatee of few goods which remained to him with its death in 1921.

Montesquiou has, of alive sound, violently décrié summer. Forain called maliciously it “ Grotesquiou ” and Pierre Louÿs devoted to him a poem (“the count R… of M… ”) too atrocious to be quoted. But it also caused impassioned admirations, always surrounded by a court of disciples admirors - following the example Marcel Proust or of the pianist Leon Delafosse - and friends faithful: his/her cousin, the countess Greffulhe, the princess Bibesco, the princess of Leon, Judith Gautier, Gustave Moreau, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Antonio of Gandara, Georges Hoentschel, and even, during a time, Octave Mirbeau. The large Italian poet Gabriele Of annunzio was friendly of Montesquiou and their friendship was developed thanks to the period passed in Arcachon through Italian. Both had a vision of the very similar life and a community of interests so much that the castle family of Montesquiou had been left in heritage with annunzio. However the castle is destroyed in a large fire some day after the donation with Italian, episode which remains a historical mystery.

It supported the avant-garde of its time: Stephan Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine in poetry; Claude Debussy or Gabriel Fauré in music; Paul Helleu in painting.

The private mansion of Montesquiou-Fezensac that his/her parents made build for him and his/her brother in 1858 by the architect Joseph-Michel Soufaché exists always today to the 1, Boulevard of Latour-Maubourg in Paris (it is currently occupied by the Arts center of China).

Works

Montesquiou published eleven volumes of poetry, three novels, three volumes of memories and many critical works. Its poetry - that he considered the part most important of his work - is generally considered to be invaluable and affected; it is at the very least unequal. On the other hand, Montesquiou criticizes was, according to the formula of Marcel Proust, the “ professor of beauty ” of a whole generation.

Memories

  • unobtrusive Steps , edition of Than Van Your That 2007

Poetry

  • the bat , Richard, 1892, particularly today required rare work
  • the chief of the odors suaves , Richard, 1893
  • the course of the dream to the memory , Carpenter and Fasquelle, 1895
  • blue hydrangeas , Carpenter and Fasquelle, 1896
  • red pearls , Carpenter and Fasquelle, 1899
  • the peacocks , Carpenter and Fasquelle, 1901
  • Prayers of all , House of the book, 1902
  • wounded offerings , Sansot, 1915
  • New wounded offerings , House of the book, 1915
  • Sand glasses and lacrymatoires , Sansot, 1917
  • forty shepherdesses: satirical portraits in new worms , frontispiece of Aubrey Beardsley, Bookstore of France, 1925

Novels

  • the small young lady , Albin-Michel, 1911
  • trepidation , Emile-Paul Brothers, 1922

References

Site Antonio of Gandara: * http://www.lagandara.fr
Random links:Theophilus Roussel | Rena Sofer | Charles-Guillaume Etienne | Tulsa 66ers | Ferdinand de Sastres | L'indépendance_Hall_(Etats-Unis)