Alfred de Musset (1810-1857)
After completing his studies at the Lycée Henry IV, Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) met Charles Nodier and his entourage and began his career in literature. He also met Sainte-Beuve and de Vigny He showed innate talent early on, and his first works attained immediate success. His "Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie" published in 1829, are imbued with a heart-rending romanticism which would characterize all his work. In 1883, he had a brief but passionate affair with George Sand. She was the inspiration for his most beautiful poems and best known plays, today considered major works of the French Romantic Movement ("On ne badine pas avec l'amour", "Les caprices de Marianne" and others). His health was fragile and despite falling ill at an early age, he led a life of debauchery and alcoholism that brought on an early death in 1857. The symbol of a generation of idleness and melancholy, Musset's own life was the very image of Romanticism. Paul Musset gave his brother's work a second life several years after his death.
