Read more
Within the crumbling walls of his ancestral château in Gascony, the young Baron de Sigognac leads a life of quiet desperation until a wandering theater troupe seeks shelter on a stormy night. Captivated by both the beautiful ingénue Isabella and the freedom of the theatrical life, he joins the performers under the flamboyant stage name Captain Fracasse. As the troupe travels across France, he must master both stagecraft and swordplay, defending his newfound family from rivals and rogues while navigating the delicate balance between his noble birth and his adopted life in the theater.
About the author
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as Parnassianism, Symbolism, Decadence and Modernism. Early in his life, Gautier befriended Gérard de Nerval, who influenced him greatly in his earlier poetry and also through whom he was introduced to Victor Hugo. He shared in Hugo's dissatisfaction with the theatrical outputs of the time and the use of the word "tragedy." Gautier admired Honoré de Balzac for his contributions to the development of French literature. Gautier was influenced greatly by his friends as well, paying tribute to them in his writings. In fact, he dedicated his collection of Dernières Poésies to his many friends, including Hérbert, Madame de la Grangerie, Maxime Du Camp and Princess Mathilde Bonaparte.
