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Selected Writings

Gérard de Nerval,

Richard Sieburth (Translator)

4.29 · Rating details · 253 ratings · 17 reviews

Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855), a contemporary of Poe, De Quincey, Gogol, and Heine, introduced into French literature a mode of writing rooted in German romanticism yet already recognizably modernist in its explorations of the uncertain borderlines between dream and reality, irony and madness, autobiography and fiction.. "This selection of writings - the first such ...more

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Paperback, 406 pages

Published January 28th 1999 by Penguin Classics (first published 1855)

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May 06, 2015 J. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: france, strange-taste, eccentric-practices

The world literature landmark Faust was first translated into English from Goethe's German original in 1821. Illustrious Brit prodigies Coleridge and Shelley both made attempts with varying degrees of success. In 1828 it was translated into French, by Gérard de Nerval, who by all accounts, Goethe's included, nailed it. At the age of twenty.

When it came to his own work, Nerval had a wrenchingly different arc; early success with poetry and plays led to important associations, Victor Hugo and ...more

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Aug 14, 2007 Rodney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: poetry

My copy's titled Selected Writings, as pictured here, not Selected Prose, so Penguin may have excised the dense, enigmatic poems of "The Chimeras" for this new edition, in which de Nerval virtually invented literary modernism. Even without them, the book's a must-have. Aurelia is one of the most touching accounts of schizophrenia ever written, and Sylvie is a gorgeous proto-Proustian hymn to memory and loss. (I wish there were more of his travel writings among the Ottomans though.)

De Nerval's ...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Peter Croft rated it really liked it

Don't be misled by the size of this volume (approx. 450 pages)...it contains multitudes. Like most people I came across Nerval through his impenetrable sonnets, being a big fan of 19th century French writing I was curious to see what his prose writings were like. After being spellbound the entire way through this treasure trove I find myself wondering why he is not better known. In fact in my humble estimation he should be considered one of the great writers of 19th century Europeans.

This ...more

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Dec 21, 2007 lisa_emily rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: the tragically undone

Shelves: tales, phantasmagoria

The myth of Nerval: eccentric, careless, tortured. Reading the writing of this eccentric, you walk away dazed by the multi-dimensional, jeweled imagination he carried within himself. The themes of Nerval’s stories are typical: desired love, lost love, phantasmagoric worlds and exotic places. However, you sense one who has wandered so far away that there can be no return. Nerval pursues his dreamt muse who forever eludes capture into words.

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Nov 07, 2013 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century-lit, france, short-fiction

This review is only for one of the novelettes in this collection, entitled Sylvie by Gérard de Nerval.

The narrator is a feckless young man who falls in love easily but cannot ever "close the deal." In this story, he goes to the haunts of his youth in Valois, where he takes up with the beautiful Sylvie, who, alas, is pledged to another. Still, he returns to see her married to the local pastry cook, with small children running around. He muses, "This way lay happiness, perhaps, and yet...." Never ...more

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Jan 14, 2016 Graychin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I’m new to Gerard de Nerval, but in reading him it was almost immediately clear to me that he must have been a big influence on Flaubert (especially the Flaubert of Three Tales and The Temptation of St Anthony). It would also be interesting to compare de Nerval to Thomas De Quincey and Robert Louis Stevenson, among others.

This is a wonderful collection and it includes (from what I understand) all of de Nerval’s most well-known work. Silvie (which Proust admired) and Aurelia, a memoir of his very ...more

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Mar 01, 2007 Jules rated it it was amazing

He is brilliant and amazing but rarely read outside of France. I highly recommend checking this out. If you do end up reading any of his stuff, tell me! I need someone to talk to about this mind-bending writing.

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May 17, 2017 Quicksilver Quill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

From the Pen of a Poetic Soul

Poor Gerard, his was an unfortunate fate. But the sad, mad man of letters and adventurer left behind some truly remarkable stories and verse. So in a strange way—though his life seems to be a study in sorrow—somehow, despite the tragedy of it all, artistically he triumphed in the end.

For the most part Gerard de Nerval: Selected Writings serves up a sumptuous literary banquet. Who could forget the haunting and tender “Sylvie”, Nerval’s masterpiece of melancholic From the Pen of a Poetic Soul

Poor Gerard, his was an unfortunate fate. But the sad, mad man of letters and adventurer left behind some truly remarkable stories and verse. So in a strange way—though his life seems to be a study in sorrow—somehow, despite the tragedy of it all, artistically he triumphed in the end.

For the most part Gerard de Nerval: Selected Writings serves up a sumptuous literary banquet. Who could forget the haunting and tender “Sylvie”, Nerval’s masterpiece of melancholic reflection on lost love which apparently inspired Proust? Or the hallucinatory and hashish enshrouded “Tale of Caliph Hakim” influenced by his voyages through the Orient? As for Nerval’s poetry cycle, “The Chimeras”, they are a visionary revelation, and fittingly, they appear at the end of this volume—a proper dessert.

Of course, a few stories here and there may fail to capture your imagination, or perhaps they go on a bit too long. “Angélique” comes to mind, and “Aurélia”, despite its sublimity, can be a challenging read, having been written after one of Nerval’s serious mental breakdowns. In other words, among this collection, you’ll probably find your own favorites.

But one thing is certain: there is a poetry and sensitivity here that will bejewel your memory. Nerval seems to capture details of the past as though with a daguerreotype, allowing you to see what he saw. And he goes beyond this as well, inviting you to step into his own personal Diorama wherein everything unfolds: the sights, sounds, colors, and emotions. In this regard, pay special attention to the story “October Nights” which, when you read it, is like traveling back in time to the mid-1800s and journeying on a nocturnal Parisian perambulation with Gerard.

Richard Sieburth, the translator, provides insightful introductions to the writings and copious notes of interest. Depending on your own personal reading style, and if you value surprise and suspense above all else, you may want to read Nerval’s stories first and then the introductions afterwards.

To sum up, if you are looking to read a very interesting and oft-overlooked 19th century French writer, you should give this volume a look. I think you will be impressed with most of Nerval’s writing, as he was a gifted and poetic soul, whose work is infused with a heady combination of pathos, mysticism, and remembrance.
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Mar 02, 2019 Lily rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

Some truly gorgeous musings and reflections about dreams, time, and the ineffable. Nerval's self-awareness about longing and ideals is resonant and tender, his use of women in his life as grand metaphors isn't as problematic as it sounds, but builds to a satisfying uncertainty and enigma about beauty, history, illusion, and life itself. Part flaneur, part troubled and in a fugue state, Nerval's prose is haunted and Proustian. The translations of the poems weren't as impressive as I assume they ...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Sam rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: do you like Vita Nuova?

Shelves: library

I may never have read this book without also rereading Dante's "Vita Nuova," as I've done these past two days. I would much recommend either. I've two or three translations of "Sylvie" but no others with the daguerreotype cover. Nerval had a pet lobster he leashed during walks.

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