Background
Catulle Mendès was born on the 22nd of March, 1841 in Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Catulle Mendès was born on the 22nd of March, 1841 in Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
After childhood and adolescence in Toulouse, Catulle Mendès arrived in Paris in 1859 and quickly became one of the proteges of the poet Théophile Gautier. He was allied with Parnassianism from the beginning of the movement and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems. His critics have noted that the elegant verse of his later volumes is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality.
The versatility and fecundity of Mendès' talent is shown in his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and in his novels and short stories. His short stories continue the French tradition of the licentious conte. In 1866 Mendès married Judith Gautier, the younger daughter of his mentor Théophile.
They soon separated, and in 1869 he began cohabiting with the composer Augusta Holmès with whom he had five children. Early on the morning of 8 February 1909, the body of Mendès was discovered in the railway tunnel of Saint Germain.
Catulle Mendès had left Paris by the midnight train on the 7th, and it is supposed that, thinking he had arrived at the station, he had opened the door of his compartment while still in the tunnel, although some biographers have suggested suicide.
Catulle Mendès was married to Judith Gautier.