Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...
, is a biographic essay about the British dandy
Beau Brummell
George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (7 June 1778 – 30 March 1840) was an important figure in Regency England and, for many years, the arbiter of men's fashion. At one time, he was a close friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, but ...
(1778–1840) and about the way of life that is
dandyism
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle desp ...
. In English, the essay “Du dandysme et de George Brummell'” has been published under the titles “Of Dandyism and of George Brummell” and “The Anatomy of Dandyism”.
Composition
Barbey d'Aurevilly had no intention to write an exhaustive biography on Brummel—such a book had been written by William Jesse and published in 1844. His aim was instead to use Brummel's life to define what distinguishes the dandy. Brummel had lived in
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
and
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,
Barbey d’Aurevilly later revisits his ideas on dandyism in his short story ''La veangeance d’une femme'' (1874), exploring in literary form his theory that fashion is power.
Publication
When the book was finished it was first distributed among Brummel's French friends before it was printed in Paris. An English translation by
Douglas Ainslie
Douglas Ainslie (1865 – 27 March 1948), was a Scottish poet, translator, critic and diplomat. He was born in Paris, France, and educated at Eton College and at Balliol and Exeter Colleges, Oxford. A contributor to the Yellow Book, he met and be ...
was published in 1897 as ''Of Dandyism and of George Brummell''. Wyndham Lewis made a second translation which was published in 1928 as ''The Anatomy of Dandyism''. A new translation by
George Walden
George Gordon Harvey Walden (born 15 September 1939) is an English journalist, former diplomat and former politician for the Conservative Party, who served as MP for Buckingham from 1983 to 1997 and Minister for Higher Education under Margare ...