ABSTRACT
The fact that the concept of dilettantism gained general critical currency during the fin de siecle can be attributed specifically to Paul Bourget’s influence. The influence of Bourget's references to dilettantism can be seen in the work of another young French writer of the 1880s, Maurice Barres. The relationship between dilettantism and Barres's cult of the self demonstrates another way in which Bourget's use of the term is adapted. Barres's discussion of Anatole France's dilettantism illustrates how the concept entered critical discourse in the wake of Bourget's essay on Renan. Jules Laforgue's association of the term 'dilettante' with the figure of Pierrot introduces a new element into the concept of dilettantism. In the same way that Charles Baudelaire juxtaposes dandyism and dilettantism as elements of a single faculty, Laforgue juxtaposes 'dilettante' and 'pierrot' as elements of his self-image. Laforgue's self-proclamation as 'dilettante' seems to be unique among French uses of the term.
