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Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romanticism, and best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les Filles du feu'' (''The Daughters of Fire''), which included the novella '' Sylvie'' and the poem "El Desdichado". Through his translations, Nerval played a major role in introducing French readers to the works of German Romantic authors, including Klopstock, Schiller,
Bürger Bürger or Buerger is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Gottfried August Bürger, German poet * Heinrich Bürger, German physicist and biologist * Heinrich Otto Wilhelm Bürger, German zoologist * Karl-Heinz Bürger, German S ...
and
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
. His later work merged poetry and journalism in a fictional context and influenced
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...
. His last novella, ''Aurélia ou le rêve et la vie'', influenced
André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
and
Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
.


Biography


Early life

Gérard Labrunie was born in Paris on 22 May 1808.Gérard Cogez, ''Gérard de Nerval'' 11. His mother, Marie Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, was the daughter of a clothing salesman,Pierre Petitfils, ''Nerval'' p. 15. and his father, Étienne Labrunie, was a young doctor who had volunteered to serve as a medic in the army under
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
.Cogez 13. In June 1808, soon after Gérard's birth, Étienne was drafted. With his young wife in tow, Étienne followed the army on tours of Germany and Austria, eventually settling in a hospital in Głogów.Cogez 14. While they travelled East, the Labrunies left their newborn son Gérard in the care of Marie Marguerite's uncle Antoine Boucher, who lived in Mortefontaine, a small town in the Valois region, not far from Paris.Cogez 13. On 29 November 1810 Marie Marguerite died before she could return to France. Gérard was two years old. Having buried his wife, Étienne took part in the disastrous
French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...
.Cogez 15. He was reunited with his son in 1814. Upon his return to France in 1814, Étienne took his son and moved back to Paris, starting a medical practice at 72 rue Saint-Martin. Gérard lived with his father but often stayed with his great-uncle Boucher in Mortefontaine and with Gérard Dublanc at 2 rue de Mantes (now 2 rue du Maréchal Joffre) in
Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. ...
. (Dublanc, Étienne's uncle, was also Gérard's godfather.) In 1822 Gérard enrolled at the collège Charlemagne. This was where he met and befriended
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 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 rema ...
. This was also where he began to take poetry more seriously. He was especially drawn to epic poetry. At age 16, he wrote a poem that recounted the circumstances of Napoleon's defeat called "". Later, he tried out satire, writing poems that took aim at Prime Minister Villèle, the Jesuit order, and anti-liberal newspapers like '' La Quotidienne''. His writing started to be published in 1826. At age 19, with minimal knowledge of the German language, he began the ambitious task of translating
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
's ''
Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
''. His prose translation appeared in 1828. Despite its many flaws, the translation had many merits, and it did a great deal to establish his poetic reputation. It is the reason why
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
, the leader of the Romantic movement in France, felt compelled to have Gérard come to his apartment on 11, rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs.Cogez 27.


Cénacle

In 1829, having received his baccalaureate degree two years late (perhaps because he skipped classes to go for walks and read for pleasure), Gérard was under pressure from his father to find steady employment. He took a job at a notary's office, but his heart was set on literature. When
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
asked him to support his play '' Hernani'', under attack from conservative critics suspicious of Romanticism, Gérard was more than happy to join the fight (see ). Gérard was sympathetic to the liberal and republican atmosphere of the time, and was briefly imprisoned in 1832 for participating in student demonstrations. Gérard set himself two anthology projects: one on German poetry, and one on French poetry.
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
and Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie arranged a library card for him so he could carry out his research. The first anthology included translations of Klopstock, Schiller,
Bürger Bürger or Buerger is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Gottfried August Bürger, German poet * Heinrich Bürger, German physicist and biologist * Heinrich Otto Wilhelm Bürger, German zoologist * Karl-Heinz Bürger, German S ...
and
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
, and met with less enthusiasm than his translation of ''Faust''. The second anthology included poems by Ronsard,
Joachim du Bellay Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of '' La Pléiade''. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as a ...
, Jean-Antoine de Baïf, Guillaume Du Bartas and . By the fall of 1830, the '' Cénacle'', a group created by Sainte-Beuve to ensure Victor Hugo's success with ''Hernani'', had assembled many famed writers, including
Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (; 27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...
,
Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...
, Charles Nodier,
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
and
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...
. After ''Hernani''s success, the Cénacle began to fall apart. At that time a new group appeared: the Petit-Cénacle, created by the sculptor Jean Bernard Duseigneur. Gérard attended some of the meetings, which took place in Duseigneur's studio. Gérard, following Hugo's lead, started to write plays. ''Le Prince des sots'' and ''Lara ou l'expiation'' were shown at the Théâtre de l'Odéon and met with positive reviews. He started to use the pseudonym Gérard de Nerval, inspired by the name of a property near Loisy (a village near
Ver-sur-Launette Ver-sur-Launette () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of France, department of France. ...
,
Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...
) which had belonged to his family.


Work with Dumas

In January 1834, Nerval's maternal grandfather died and he inherited around 30,000 francs. That autumn, he headed to southern France and then travelled to Florence, Rome and Naples. On his return in 1835, he moved in with a group of Romantic artists (including ). In May of that year, he created ''Le Monde Dramatique,'' a luxurious literary journal on which he squandered his inheritance. Debt-ridden, he finally sold it in 1836. Getting his start in journalism, he travelled to Belgium with Gautier from July to September. In 1837, ''Piquillo'' was shown at the Opéra-Comique. Despite Nerval's work on the project, Dumas' was the only name on the libretto. played the main role. Nerval may have fallen in love with the actress. Some specialists claim that his unrequited love for her is what inspired many of the female figures that appear in his writing, including the Virgin Mary, Isis, the queen of Saba. Other experts disagree with this biographical analysis. Despite Dumas' refusal to let him take credit for his work, Nerval continued to collaborate with Dumas on plays. In the summer of 1838, he travelled with Dumas to Germany to work on ''Léo Burckart,'' which eventually premiered at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin on 16 April 1839, six days after the premiere of another play the pair worked on together called ''L'Alchimiste.'' In November 1839, Nerval travelled to Vienna, where he met the pianist Marie Pleyel at the French embassy.


First nervous breakdowns

Back in France in March 1840, Nerval took over Gautier's column at ''La Presse.'' After publishing a third edition of ''Faust'' in July, including a preface and fragments of ''Second Faust,'' he travelled to Belgium in October. On 15 December ''Piquillo'' premiered in Brussels, where Nerval crossed paths with Jenny Colon and Marie Pleyel once again. After a first nervous breakdown on 23 February 1841, he was cared for at the Sainte-Colombe Borstal ("maison de correction"). On 1 March Jules Janin published an obituary for Nerval in the ''Journal des Débats.'' After a second nervous breakdown, Nerval was housed in Docteur Esprit Blanche's clinic in Montmartre, where he remained from March to November.


Travels

On 22 December 1842, Nerval set off for the Near East, travelling to
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
,
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
,
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
,
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
,
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
and
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. Back in Paris in 1843, he began to publish articles about his trip in 1844. His '' Voyage en Orient'' appeared in 1851. Between 1844 and 1847, Nerval travelled to Belgium, the Netherlands, and London, producing
travel writing The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a ...
. At the same time, he wrote novellas and opera librettos and translated poems by his friend
Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...
, publishing a selection of translations in 1848. His last years were spent in dire financial and emotional straits. Following his doctor Emile Blanche's advice, he tried to purge himself of his intense emotions in his writing. This is when he composed some of his best works. Nerval had a pet
lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...
named Thibault, which he walked at the end of a blue silk ribbon in the
Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre Palace, Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Ca ...
in Paris. According to
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 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 rema ...
, Nerval said: In his later years, Nerval also took an interest in socialism, tracing its origins to the eighteenth-century Illuminists and esoteric authors such as Nicolas-Edme Rétif.


Suicide

Increasingly poverty-stricken and disoriented, he took his own life during the night of 26 January 1855, by hanging himself from the bar of a cellar window in the rue de la Vieille-Lanterne, a narrow lane in a squalid section of Paris. He left a brief note to his aunt: "Don't wait up for me this evening, for the night will be black and white." Just like in English, in French a ''nuit blanche'' (literal translation: a white night) is a sleepless night. The poet
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...
observed that Nerval had "delivered his soul in the darkest street that he could find." The discoverers of his body were puzzled by the fact that his hat was still on his head. The last pages of his manuscript for ' were found in a pocket of his coat. After a religious ceremony at the Notre-Dame cathedral (which was granted despite his suicide because of his troubled mental state), he was buried in the
Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...
in Paris, at the expense of his friends
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 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 rema ...
and Arsène Houssaye, who published ''Aurélia'' as a book later that year. The complete works of Gérard de Nerval are published in three volumes by Gallimard in the collection '' Bibliothèque de la Pléiade''.


Assessments and legacy

Goethe read Nerval's translation of ''Faust'' and called it "very successful", even claiming that he preferred it to the original. The composer
Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
relied on Nerval's translation of Faust for his work '' La damnation de Faust'', which premiered in 1846. In 1867, Nerval's friend
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 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 rema ...
(1811–1872) wrote a touching reminiscence of him in "La Vie de Gérard" which was included in his ''Portraits et Souvenirs Littéraires'' (1875). For
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...
, Nerval was one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Proust especially admired Sylvie's exploration of time lost and regained, which would become one of Proust's deepest interests and the dominant theme of his magnum opus ''
In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French author Marcel Proust. This early twen ...
''. Later,
André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
named Nerval a precursor of
Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
art, which drew on Nerval's forays into the significance of dreams. For his part,
Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...
compared Nerval's visionary poetry to the work of Hölderlin,
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...
and
Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
.Richard Sieburth, introduction to ''Selected Writings'', by Gérard de Nerval, trans. Richard Sieburth (New York: Penguin, 2006), Apple Books edition. In 1945, at the end of the Second World War and after a long illness, the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...
delivered a lecture in Zürich on Nerval's ''Aurélia'' which he regarded as a work of "extraordinary magnitude". Jung described Nerval's memoir as a cautionary tale (the protagonist cannot profit psychologically from his own lucidity and profound insights), and he validates Nerval's visionary experience as a genuine encounter with the
collective unconscious In psychology, the collective unconsciousness () is a term coined by Carl Jung, which is the belief that the unconscious mind comprises the instincts of Jungian archetypes—innate symbols understood from birth in all humans. Jung considered th ...
and ''
anima mundi The concept of the (Latin), world soul (, ), or soul of the world (, ) posits an intrinsic connection between all living beings, suggesting that the world is animated by a soul much like the human body. Rooted in ancient Greek and Roman philo ...
''.
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...
in his '' Six Walks in the Fictional Woods'' calls Nerval's '' Sylvie'' a "masterpiece" and analysed it to demonstrate the use of temporal ambiguity. Henry Miller called Nerval an "extraordinary French poet" and included him among a group of exemplary translators:" English we have yet to produce a poet who is able to do for Rimbaud what Baudelaire did for Poe's verse, or Nerval for ''
Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'', or
Morel ''Morchella'', the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales ( division Ascomycota). These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges ...
and Larbaud for ''Ulysses''". Literary critic
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world". Af ...
called him "a pure instance of Faustian man" but judged that "the sorrow of his unmothered and unloved existence destroyed him before" his genius could "fus all the visionary's contraries together." Twentieth century French composer Denise Roger used Nerval's texts for some of her songs. The English rock band
Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...
included the jazz-rock track "Dream Gerrard" in their 1974 album '' When the Eagle Flies''. Lyrics are known to be mainly written by
Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British uppe ...
after reading Nerval's biography.Jonathan Calder
"Traffic: Dream Gerrard"
22 September 2013
There are streets named after Nerval in the towns of Saint-Denis,
Béthisy-Saint-Pierre Béthisy-Saint-Pierre () is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department References

Communes of Oise {{SenlisArrondissement ...
,
Crépy-en-Valois Crépy-en-Valois (, ) is a commune located in the Oise department in northern France. It is located in the Paris Metropolitan Area, northeast of the center of Paris. History Crépy-en-Valois was founded in the tenth century by the count of ...
,
Creil Creil () is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department, northern France. The Creil station is an important railway junction. History Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site as well as a late ...
, Mortefontaine, Othis and
Senlis Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hauts-de-France. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. It is known for its Gothic cathedral and other ...
.


Selected works

* ''Les Faux Saulniers'' (''The Salt Smugglers'', 1850) – published over several weeks in '' Le National'', a daily newspaper. He later incorporated some of this material in '' Les Filles du feu'' (in ''Angelique'') and in '' Les Illuminés'' (in ''L'Abbé de Bucquoy''). * '' Voyage en Orient'' (1851) – an account of the author's voyages to Germany, Switzerland and Vienna in 1839 and 1840, and to Egypt and Turkey in 1843. Includes several pieces already published, including ''Les Amours de Vienne'', which first appeared in the '' Revue de Paris'' in 1841. One of the author's major works. * ''La Bohème Galante'' (1852) – a collection of short prose works and poems including some of the set he later called ''Odelettes''. Dedicated and addressed to Arsène Houssaye. * ''Les Nuits d'Octobre'' (1852) – a small but distinguished collection of essays describing Paris at night. * '' Lorely, souvenirs d'Allemagne'' (1852) – an account of his travels along the Rhine, also in Holland and Belgium. It includes the full-length play ''Léo Burckart'', under the title "Scènes de la Vie Allemande". * '' Les Illuminés'' (1852) – a collection of six biographical narratives in the form of novellas or essays. * '' Sylvie'' (1853) – described by Nerval as "un petit roman" ("a small novel"), it is the most celebrated of his works. * ''Petits Châteaux de Bohême'' (1853) – a collection of prose works and poetry, including the short play ''Corilla'', which was subsequently included in '' Les Filles du feu'', the ''Odelettes'', and several of the sonnets later published as ''The Chimeras''. * '' Les Filles du feu'' (1854) – a volume of short stories or idylls, including the previously published ''Sylvie'', along with a sequence of twelve sonnets, ''
The Chimeras ''The Chimeras'' () is a sequence of sonnets by the French writer Gérard de Nerval, made up of eight individual poems and a total of twelve sonnets. The poems are: "El Desdichado", "Myrtho", "Horus", "Anteros", " Delphica", "Artemis", "Christ at ...
'' * ''
Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
'' (1854) – another Fille du Feu, not finished in time for inclusion in that volume, written in the style of ''Sylvie'' and set in Vienna. Also known as ''La Pandora'', often subtitled ''Suite des Amours de Vienne''. * ' (1855, posthumously) – a fantasy-ridden interior autobiography as referred to by Gérard de Nerval * ''Promenades et Souvenirs'' (1854–1855) – a collection of eight essays after the manner of ''Les Nuits d'Octobre'', describing the Saint-Germain neighbourhood of the author's childhood and youth. The last, "Chantilly", includes a portrait similar to those in ''Les Filles du feu''.


Quotes

From 'El Desdichado' in “The Chimeras," from ''Sylvie & The Chimeras'': : : : : : : : :


Bibliography


Works in French

* ''Œuvres complètes.'' 3 vols. Eds. Jean Guillaume & Claude Pichois. Paris: La Pléiade-Gallimard, 1984. Print. * ''Les filles du feu/Les Chimères.'' Ed. Bertrand Marchal. Paris: Folio-Gallimard, 2005. Print. * ''Aurélia – La Pandora – Les Nuits d'Octobre – Promenades et souvenirs.'' Ed. Jean-Nicolas Illouz. Paris: Folio-Gallimard, 2005. Print.


English translations

* ''The Women of Cairo'', trans. Conrad Elphinstone. Harcourt, Brace, 1930. Later reprinted as ''Journey to the Orient''. New York: Antipodes Press, 2012. * ''Aurélia & Other Writings'', trans. Geoffrey Wagner, Robert Duncan, Marc Lowenthal. New York: Exact Change, 1996. * ''Selected Writings'', trans. Richard Sieburth. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print. * ''The Illuminated, or The Precursors of Socialism: Tales and Portraits'', trans. Peter Valente. Wakefield Press, 2022. * ''Sylvie & The Chimeras'', trans. Richard Robinson. Portland, OR: Sunny Lou Publishing, 2023. * ''Small Castles of Bohemia'', trans. Napoleon Jeffries. Wakefield Press, forthcoming.


See also

* List of people who died by suicide by hanging


Notes


References


Further reading


Biographies

* ''Album Nerval''. Eds. Éric Buffetaud and Claude Pichois. Paris: La Pléiade-Gallimard, 1993. . * Cogez, Gérard. ''Gérard de Nerval.'' Paris : Folio-Gallimard, 2010. Print. * Gautier, Théophile. ''Histoire du romantisme/Quarante portraits romantiques.'' Ed. Adrien Goetz. Paris: Folio-Gallimard, 2011. Print. * Gautier, Théophile. (1900)
"Gérard de Nerval."
In: ''The Complete Works of Théophile Gautier,'' Vol. VIII. London: The Athenæum Press, pp. 96–116. * Jones, Robert Emmet (1974). ''Gerard de Nerval.'' New York: Twayne Publishers. * , ''Nerval'', Paris, Julliard, 1986, coll. ''Les Vivants'' * Sowerby, Benn. ''The disinherited; the life of Gérard de Nerval, 1808–1855.'' New York: New York University Press, 1974. Print.


Criticism (books)

* Ahearn, Edward J. "Visionary Insanity: Nerval's ''Aurélia.''" ''Visionary Fictions: Apocalyptic Writing from Blake to the Modern Age.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Print. * Jeanneret, Michel. ''La lettre perdue: Ecriture et folie dans l'œuvre de Nerval.'' Paris: Flammarion, 1978. Print. * Gordon, Rae Beth (2014). "The Enchanted Hand: Schlegel's Arabesque in Nerval." In: ''Ornament, Fantasy, and Desire in Nineteenth-Century French Literature''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. * Jung, Carl Gustav (1945/2015). ''On Psychological and Visionary Art: Notes from C. G. Jung's Lecture on Gérard de Nerval's "Aurélia"''. Ed. Craig E Stephenson, Princeton: Princeton University Press. * Rhodes, Solomon A. (1951). ''Gérard de Nerval, 1808–1855: Poet, Traveler, Dreamer.'' New York: Philosophical Library. * Symons, Arthur (1919)
"Gérard de Nerval."
In: ''The Symbolist Movement in Literature.'' New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, pp. 69–95. * Lang, Andrew (1892)
"Gérard de Nerval."
In: ''Letters on Literature.'' London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co., pp. 147–156.


Criticism (journal articles)

* Blackman, Maurice (1986–87). "Byron and the First Poem of Gérard de Nerval," ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies,'' Vol. XV, No. 1/2, pp. 94–107. * Bray, Patrick M. (2006). "Lost in the Fold: Space and Subjectivity in Gérard de Nerval's 'Généalogie' and Sylvie," ''French Forum,'' Vol. XXXI, No. 2, pp. 35–51. * Carroll, Robert C. (1976). "Illusion and Identity: Gérard de Nerval and Rétif's 'Sara'," ''Studies in Romanticism,'' Vol. XV, No. 1, pp. 59–80. * Carroll, Robert C. (1976). "Gérard de Nerval: Prodigal Son of History," ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies,'' Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 263–273. * DuBruck, Alfred (1974–1975). "Nerval and Dumas in Germany," ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies,'' Vol. III, No. 1/2, pp. 58–64. * Duckworth, Colin (1965). "Eugène Scribe and Gérard de Nerval 'Celui Qui Tient la Corde Nous Étrangle'," ''The Modern Language Review,'' Vol. LX, No. 1, pp. 32–40. * Knapp, Bettina L. (1974–75). "Gérard de Nerval's 'Isis' and the Cult of the Madonna," ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies,'' Vol. III, No. 1/2, pp. 65–79. * Knapp, Bettina L. (1976). "Gérard de Nerval: The Queen of Sheba and the Occult," ''Nineteenth-Century French Studies,'' Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 244–257. * Lang, Andrew (1873)
"Gérard de Nerval, 1810–1855,"
''Fraser's Magazine,'' Vol. VII, pp. 559–566. * Mauris, Maurice (1880)
"Gérard de Nerval."
In: ''French Men of Letters.'' New York: D. Appleton and Company, pp. 129–150. * Moon, H. Kay (1965). "Gerard de Nerval: A Reappraisal," ''Brigham Young University Studies,'' Vol. VII, No. 1, pp. 40–52. * Rhodes, Solomon A. (1938). "Poetical Affiliations of Gerard de Nerval," ''PMLA,'' Vol. LIII, No. 4, pp. 1157–1171. * Rhodes, Solomon A. (1949). "The Friendship between Gérard de Nerval and Heinrich Heine," ''The French Review,'' Vol. XXIII, No. 1, pp. 18–27. * Rinsler, Norma (1963). "Gérard de Nerval, Fire and Ice," ''The Modern Language Review,'' Vol. LVIII, No. 4, pp. 495–499. * Rinsler, Norma (1963). "Gérard de Nerval's Celestial City and the Chain of Souls," ''Studies in Romanticism,'' Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 87–106. * Smith, Garnet (1889)
"Gérard de Nerval,"
''The Gentleman's Magazine'', Vol. CCLXVI, pp. 285–296. * Warren, Rosanna (1983). "The 'Last Madness' of Gérard de Nerval," ''The Georgia Review,'' Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, pp. 131–138.


External links

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essay by Richard Sieburth, an English translator of Nerval {{DEFAULTSORT:Nerval, Gerard De 1808 births 1850s suicides 1855 deaths 18th-century pseudonymous writers 19th-century French translators 19th-century French male writers 19th-century French poets 19th-century pseudonymous writers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery French horror writers French male poets German–French translators Romantic poets Suicides by hanging in France Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Writers from Paris French satirists French satirical poets