Catulle Mendès

Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters. Of Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris, attaining speedy notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste (1861) of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with the Parnassians from the beginning of the movement, and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, Philoméla (1863). In later volumes, his critics have noted that the elegant verse is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendes' talent is shown in a series of his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and of novels and short stories. His short stories continue the French tradition of the licentious conte. In 1866 he married Judith Gautier, the younger daughter of the poet... full article at wikipedia