Traditional readings ofMademoiselle de Maupin, by assimilating Gautier and d'Albert, overlook the complex triangular patterning that gives the work its tension and vitality. The analysis of underlying structures, with their associated contrasts and parallels, together with an exploration of some of the cultural allusions which pepper the text, reveals the degree to which this ambitious first novel stands at the heart of nineteenth‐century aesthetic thinking.Qui le lit peut en être mécontent, qui le relit est charmé (Victor H