Editing Alfred de Musset (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Plaque Alfred de Musset, 6 rue du Mont-Thabor, Paris 1.jpg|thumb|Commemorative plaque, 6 rue du Mont-Thabor, Paris]]
Musset was born in Paris. His family was upper-class but poor; his father worked in various key government positions, but never gave his son any money. Musset's mother came from similar circumstances, 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.<ref name=Chville/>

An early indication of his boyhood talents was his fondness for acting impromptu mini-plays based upon episodes from old romance stories he had read.<ref name=Chville/> Years later, elder brother Paul de Musset would preserve these and many other details, for posterity, in a biography of his famous younger brother.<ref name=Chville/>

Alfred de Musset entered the [[lycée Henri-IV]] at the age of nine, where in 1827 he won the Latin essay prize in the [[Concours général]] at age 17. 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,<ref name=aka/> drawing, English and piano, he became one of the first [[Romanticism|Romantic]] writers, with his first collection of poems, ''Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie'' (1829, Tales of Spain and Italy).<ref name=aka/> 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]]. His politics were of a [[Liberalism|liberal]] stamp, and he was on good terms with the family of King [[Louis Philippe]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Spectator, Volume 50 |date=1877 |publisher=F.C. Westley |page=983}}</ref> 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]] in 1833–1835<ref name=aka/> 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'') (1836),<ref name=aka/> which was made into a 1999 film, ''[[Children of the Century]]'', and a 2012 film, ''[[Confession of a Child of the Century]]'', and is told from her point of view in her ''Elle et lui'' (1859).  Musset's ''Nuits'' (Nights) (1835–1837) traces the emotional upheaval of his love for Sand from early despair to final resignation.<ref name=aka/> He is also believed to be the anonymous author of ''[[Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess]]'' (1833), a lesbian [[erotic novel]] which was rumored to be modeled on Sand.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendall-Davies |first=Barbara |title=The Life and Work of Pauline Viardot Garcia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zppg-I0Bw1UC&pg=PA46 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press |year=2003 |pages=45–46 |isbn=1-904303-27-7}}</ref>

Outside of his relationship with Sand he was a well-known figure in brothels, and is widely accepted to be the anonymous author-client who beat and humiliated the author and courtesan [[Céleste de Chabrillan]], also known as ''La Mogador''.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

[[File:Paris Tombe Musset 2013.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Alfred de Musset in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]]]

Musset was dismissed from his post as librarian by the new minister [[Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin|Ledru-Rollin]] after the revolution of 1848. He was, however, appointed librarian of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1853.

On 24 April 1845, Musset received the [[Légion d'honneur]] at the same time as [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]], and was elected to the [[Académie Française]] in 1852 after two failed attempts in 1848 and 1850.

Alfred de Musset died in his sleep in Paris in 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]].<ref>"Twelve eponymous signs of aortic regurgitation, one of which was named after a patient instead of a physician", in: ''The American Journal of Cardiology'', vol. 93, issue 10, 15 May 2004, pp. 1332–3; by Tsung O. Cheng MD.</ref><ref name=Yale2021>{{cite book |last1=Yale |first1=Steven H. |last2=Tekiner |first2=Halil |last3=Mazza |first3=Joseph J. |last4=Yale |first4=Eileen S. |last5=Yale |first5=Ryan C. |title=Cardiovascular Eponymic Signs: Diagnostic Skills Applied During the Physical Examination |date=2021 |publisher=Springer |location=Switzerland |isbn=978-3-030-67596-7 |pages=122–123|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJQoEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |language=en |chapter=5. Aortic regurgitation murmurs}}</ref> He was buried in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris.