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Selected Writings
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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 comprehe
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Paperback, 406 pages
Published
January 28th 1999
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1855)
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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 Alex ...more
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 Alex ...more
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 t ...more
De Nerval's t ...more
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 volum ...more
This volum ...more
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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 refl ...more
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 refl ...more
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 a
...more
Aug 30, 2007
Sam
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
do you like Vita Nuova?
Shelves:
library,
collection
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.
dreamy, narcotic, mythopoetic.
Jul 28, 2011
Lefevre Serpault
added it
impossible de s'en lasser
Best Nerval in English! Sieburth is a translator of genius.
worth a shot. everyone should know where decadence emerges...
I love the cover of the Exact Change AURELIA edition, but this is a remarkable book overflowing with page after page of amazing texts
Nerval is one of those writers I enjoy reading about more than I enjoy reading his work.
Well-conceived collection of the various writings of one of Romanticism's most talented madmen.
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