Adolphe Retté

Born in Paris in 1863, Adolphe Retté became part of the French Symbolist world in the late 19th century, writing poetry, prose, and criticism. He was linked with the literary circles around the decadent and Symbolist movements, and his early work helped make him known as a striking, unconventional voice.

Retté’s life did not follow a straight line. For a time he was drawn to anarchist ideas, and later he underwent a well-known conversion to Catholicism, a change that deeply shaped his later writing. That dramatic shift gives his career an unusual range, from rebellious literary experimentation to spiritual and autobiographical reflection.

He died in Beaune in 1930. Today he is remembered not only for his place in Symbolist literature, but also for the intensity of his personal journey, which gives his poems and prose a sense of lived conviction.