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Emmeline / Croisilles
Emmeline, jeune femme de caractère, a épousé le comte de Marsan contre la volonté de son père. Après quelques années de bonheur tiède, son regard croise celui d'un très charmant poète… Balzac qualifia cette nouvelle de 'chef-d'œuvre de la littérature moderne' lors de sa parution. Deux nouvelles galantes qui mêlent subtilement légèreté et gravité par l'auteur d'On ne badine pas avec l'amour.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Alfred de Musset
1,588 books222 followersAlfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, autobiographical) from 1836.
Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris. His family was upper-class but poor and his father worked in various key government positions, but never gave his son any money. His mother was similarly accomplished, and her role as a society hostess, - for example her drawing-room parties, luncheons, and dinners, held in the Musset residence - left a lasting impression on young Alfred.
Early indications of Musset's boyhood talents were seen by his fondness for acting impromptu mini-plays based upon episodes from old romance stories he had read. Years later, elder brother Paul de Musset would preserve these, and many other details, for posterity, in a biography on his famous younger brother.
Alfred de Musset entered the collège Henri IV at the age of nine, where in 1827 he won the Latin essay prize in the Concours général. With the help of Paul Foucher, Victor Hugo's brother-in-law, he began to attend, at the age of 17, the Cénacle, the literary salon of Charles Nodier at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. After attempts at careers in medicine (which he gave up owing to a distaste for dissections), law, drawing, English and piano, he became one of the first Romantic writers, with his first collection of poems, Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie (1829, Tales of Spain and Italy). By the time he reached the age of 20, his rising literary fame was already accompanied by a sulphurous reputation fed by his dandy side.
He was the librarian of the French Ministry of the Interior under the July Monarchy. During this time he also involved himself in polemics during the Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French prime minister Adolphe Thiers, who as Minister of the Interior had been Musset's superior. Thiers had demanded that France should own the left bank of the Rhine (described as France's "natural boundary"), as it had under Napoleon, despite the territory's German population. These demands were rejected by German songs and poems, including Nikolaus Becker's Rheinlied, which contained the verse: "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den freien, deutschen Rhein ..." (They shall not have it, the free, German Rhine). Musset answered to this with a poem of his own: "Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand" (We've had it, your German Rhine).
The tale of his celebrated love affair with George Sand, which lasted from 1833 to 1835, is told from his point of view in his autobiographical novel, La Confession d'un Enfant du Siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, made into a film, Children of the Century), and from her point of view in her Elle et lui. Musset's Nuits (1835–1837, Nights) trace his emotional upheaval of his love for George Sand, from early despair to final resignation. He is also believed to be the author of Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1833), a lesbian erotic novel, also believed to be modeled on George Sand.
Tomb of Alfred de Musset in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Musset was dismissed from his post as librarian by the new minister Ledru-Rollin after the revolution of 1848. He was however appointed librarian of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1853.
Musset received the Légion d'honneur on 24 April 1845, at the same time as Balzac, and was elected to the Académie française in 1852 (after two failures to do so in 1848 and 1850).
Alfred de Musset died in his sleep on 2 May 1857. The cause was heart failure, the combination of alcoholism and a longstanding aortic insufficiency. One symptom that had been noticed by his brother was a bobbing of the head as a result of the amplification of the pulse; this was later called de Musset's sign. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris. His family was upper-class but poor and his father worked in various key government positions, but never gave his son any money. His mother was similarly accomplished, and her role as a society hostess, - for example her drawing-room parties, luncheons, and dinners, held in the Musset residence - left a lasting impression on young Alfred.
Early indications of Musset's boyhood talents were seen by his fondness for acting impromptu mini-plays based upon episodes from old romance stories he had read. Years later, elder brother Paul de Musset would preserve these, and many other details, for posterity, in a biography on his famous younger brother.
Alfred de Musset entered the collège Henri IV at the age of nine, where in 1827 he won the Latin essay prize in the Concours général. With the help of Paul Foucher, Victor Hugo's brother-in-law, he began to attend, at the age of 17, the Cénacle, the literary salon of Charles Nodier at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. After attempts at careers in medicine (which he gave up owing to a distaste for dissections), law, drawing, English and piano, he became one of the first Romantic writers, with his first collection of poems, Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie (1829, Tales of Spain and Italy). By the time he reached the age of 20, his rising literary fame was already accompanied by a sulphurous reputation fed by his dandy side.
He was the librarian of the French Ministry of the Interior under the July Monarchy. During this time he also involved himself in polemics during the Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French prime minister Adolphe Thiers, who as Minister of the Interior had been Musset's superior. Thiers had demanded that France should own the left bank of the Rhine (described as France's "natural boundary"), as it had under Napoleon, despite the territory's German population. These demands were rejected by German songs and poems, including Nikolaus Becker's Rheinlied, which contained the verse: "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den freien, deutschen Rhein ..." (They shall not have it, the free, German Rhine). Musset answered to this with a poem of his own: "Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand" (We've had it, your German Rhine).
The tale of his celebrated love affair with George Sand, which lasted from 1833 to 1835, is told from his point of view in his autobiographical novel, La Confession d'un Enfant du Siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, made into a film, Children of the Century), and from her point of view in her Elle et lui. Musset's Nuits (1835–1837, Nights) trace his emotional upheaval of his love for George Sand, from early despair to final resignation. He is also believed to be the author of Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1833), a lesbian erotic novel, also believed to be modeled on George Sand.
Tomb of Alfred de Musset in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Musset was dismissed from his post as librarian by the new minister Ledru-Rollin after the revolution of 1848. He was however appointed librarian of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1853.
Musset received the Légion d'honneur on 24 April 1845, at the same time as Balzac, and was elected to the Académie française in 1852 (after two failures to do so in 1848 and 1850).
Alfred de Musset died in his sleep on 2 May 1857. The cause was heart failure, the combination of alcoholism and a longstanding aortic insufficiency. One symptom that had been noticed by his brother was a bobbing of the head as a result of the amplification of the pulse; this was later called de Musset's sign. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 13, 2021
FRANÇAIS: Nouvelle semi-autobiographique dans lequel cet important écrivain romantique français raconte une de ses aventures, qui lui a apparemment laissé une profonde impression, et décrit la corruption d'une femme mariée, innocente jusque-là, à la suite d'amours qu'aucun d'eux, selon l'auteur, a pris trop au sérieux au début.
Le manque de sens moral des femmes (et des hommes) de la haute société française à cette époque est évident dans cette histoire, même si l'auteur tente par tous les moyens d'excuser Emmeline et de la présenter comme une femme différente des autres femmes de sa classe.
ENGLISH: Semi-autobiographical short novel where this well-known French romantic writer tells of one of his adventures, which apparently made him a deep impression, and in which he tells of the defilement of a married woman, innocent up to that time, as a result of a love that neither of them, according to the author, took at first too seriously.
The lack of moral sense of women (and men) in French high society at that time is evident in this story, although the author tries by all means to excuse Emmeline and presents her as quite different from other women of her class.
ESPAÑOL: Novela corta semi-autobiográfica en la que este importante escritor romántico francés cuenta una aventura suya que al parecer le dejó una profunda impresión, y describe la deshonra de una mujer casada, inocente hasta entonces, como consecuencia de unos amores que ninguno de los dos, al decir del autor, se tomaba demasiado en serio al principio.
La falta de sentido moral de las mujeres (y de los hombres) de la alta sociedad francesa en aquella época queda patente en esta historia, aunque el autor trata por todos los medios de disculpar a Emmeline y de presentarla como una mujer distinta de las demás mujeres de su clase.
Le manque de sens moral des femmes (et des hommes) de la haute société française à cette époque est évident dans cette histoire, même si l'auteur tente par tous les moyens d'excuser Emmeline et de la présenter comme une femme différente des autres femmes de sa classe.
ENGLISH: Semi-autobiographical short novel where this well-known French romantic writer tells of one of his adventures, which apparently made him a deep impression, and in which he tells of the defilement of a married woman, innocent up to that time, as a result of a love that neither of them, according to the author, took at first too seriously.
The lack of moral sense of women (and men) in French high society at that time is evident in this story, although the author tries by all means to excuse Emmeline and presents her as quite different from other women of her class.
ESPAÑOL: Novela corta semi-autobiográfica en la que este importante escritor romántico francés cuenta una aventura suya que al parecer le dejó una profunda impresión, y describe la deshonra de una mujer casada, inocente hasta entonces, como consecuencia de unos amores que ninguno de los dos, al decir del autor, se tomaba demasiado en serio al principio.
La falta de sentido moral de las mujeres (y de los hombres) de la alta sociedad francesa en aquella época queda patente en esta historia, aunque el autor trata por todos los medios de disculpar a Emmeline y de presentarla como una mujer distinta de las demás mujeres de su clase.
May 24, 2019
Sigh, another one of those 19th century tales of a spoiled bourgeois young woman and her 'struggles' in life. Nah.
May 26, 2022
vraiment bien pour découvrir Musset, belle histoire un peu niaise mais tellement bien écrite ! On adore l petit tacle à Laclos et Les Liaisons Dangereuse btw
May 29, 2022
" Je n'appartiens à personne ; quand la pensée veut être libre, le corps doit l'être aussi. "
December 27, 2022
Je ne supporte plus les histoires de bourgeois qui se lamentent à tout va.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews