Mephistophela

Catulle Mendès

Translated by Brian Stableford

Mephistophela, among the most unsettling works of the prolific author Catulle Mendès, was originally published in 1889 and is presented here for the first time in English in a superb translation by Brian Stableford.

Telling the story of Baronne Sophor d’Hermelinge, a woman as thoroughly martyrized by her creator as any other heroine in the history of fiction, in spite of the enormous competition for that title established by countless writers, male and female, it is one of the archetypal novels of the Decadent Movement, and one of the most striking, precisely because is it such a discomfiting piece of writing, the deliberately controversial nature of which has been further enhanced as its surrounding social context has changed over time.


Highly influential, especially on the works of such writers as Jean Lorrain and Renée Vivien, Mephistophela, in placing lesbian amour in the foreground of the story, deals forthrightly and intensively with a literary theme that had previously only been treated with delicacy and indecision, mostly in poetry.

It is essentially a horror story about demonic possession, about contrived and cruel damnation, devoid even of a Faustian pact, which merely employs obsessive lesbian desire as an instrument of damnation.

About the Author
Catulle Mendès (1841–1909) was a French man of letters and the protégé of Théophile Gautier, whose daughter, Judith, he married, though their relationship did not last long. In 1860 he founded La Revue fantaisiste, ­publishing such authors as Villiers de L’Isle-Adam and Charles Baudelaire. He gained the reputation as a sensualist after his ‘Le Roman d’une Nuit,’ which appeared in the same review in 1867, was condemned as immoral, and he was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs for publishing it. He wrote voluminously—plays, poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. Friedrich Nietzsche dedicated his Dionysian-Dithyrambs to Mendès, celebrating him as “the greatest and first satyr alive ­today—not just today . . .”

Paperback, 370 pages
Release date, September 9, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-010-4
Price: US$26.00

Hardcover, 372 pages. Limited edition of 70 copies
Release date, September 9, 2019
Price: US$38.50