Abstract
In the preface he composed during the night of 29-30 June 1834 for his just completed drama, Chatterton, Alfred de Vigny wrote: This is not ideology.' That statement was not a pro forma disclaimer of philosophical bias. Rather, it was a deliberately made and seriously intended definition of the grounds on which Vigny meant to fight for the unencumbered leisure to develop his artistic talents.2 Already in Stello, [Vigny] had proclaimed the superiority of Poetry and Imagination over philosophy and 'the mind that weighs and measures.' 3 That Vigny must make clear he his not arguing his case on the basis of some political or philosophical doctrine tells us much about the world in which he lived and the society he was addressing.4
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