Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

NERVAL, GERARD

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 394 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

NERVAL, See also:GERARD 'DE (18o8–1855), the adopted name of Gerard Labrunie, See also:French See also:man of letters, See also:born in See also:Paris on the 22nd of May 18o8. His See also:father was an See also:army See also:doctor, and the See also:child was See also:left with an See also:uncle in the See also:country, while Mme Labrunie accompanied her See also:husband in his See also:campaigns. She died in See also:Silesia. In 1811 his father returned, and beside See also:Greek and Latin taughtthe boy See also:modern See also:languages and the elements of Arabic and See also:Persian. Gerard found his favourite See also:reading in old books on See also:mysticism and the occult sciences. He distinguished himself by his successes at the See also:College See also:Charlemagne, however, and his first See also:work, La See also:France guerriere, elegies nationales, was published while he was still a student. In 1828 he published a See also:translation of See also:Goethe's See also:Faust, the choruses of which were afterwards used by See also:Berlioz for his See also:legend-See also:symphony, The Damnation of Faust. A number of poetical pieces and three comedies combined to acquire for him, at the See also:age of twenty-one, a considerable See also:literary reputation, and led to his being associated with See also:Theophile See also:Gautier in the preparation of the dramatic See also:feuilleton for the Presse. He conceived a violent See also:passion for the actress Jennie See also:Colon, in whom he thought he recognized a certain Adrienne, who had fired his childish See also:imagination. Her See also:marriage and her See also:death in 1842 were blows from which his See also:nervous temperament never really recovered. He travelled in See also:Germany with See also:Alexandre See also:Dumas, and alone in various parts of See also:Europe, leading a very irregular and See also:eccentric See also:life. In 1843 he visited See also:Constantinople and See also:Syria, where, among other adventures, he nearly married the daughter of a Druse See also:sheikh.

He contributed accounts of his travels to the Revue See also:

des Deux Mondes and other See also:periodicals. After his return to Paris in 1844 he resumed for a See also:short See also:time his feuilleton for the Presse, but his eccentricities increased and be committed See also:suicide by See also:hanging, on the 25th of See also:January 1855. The literary See also:style of Gerard is See also:simple and unaffected, and he has a See also:peculiar See also:faculty of giving to his imaginative creations an See also:air of naturalness and reality. In a See also:series of novelettes, afterwards published under the name of See also:Les Illumines, ou les precurseurs du socialisme (1852), containing studies on Retif de la Bretonne, See also:Cagliostro and others, he gave a sort of See also:analysis of the feelings which followed his third attack of See also:insanity. Among his other See also:works the See also:principal are Les Filles du See also:feu (1854), which contains his masterpiece, the semi-autobiographical See also:romance of Syl ., Scenes de la See also:vie orientale (1848–185o) ; Contes et faceties (1852); La Boheeeme galante (1856); and L'Alchimiste, a See also:drama in five acts, the See also:joint See also:composition of Gerard and Alexandre Dumas. His Poesies completes were published in 1877. There are many accounts of Gerard de Nerval's unhappy life. Among them may be mentioned notices by his friend Theophile Gautier and by Arsene See also:Houssaye, prefixed to the See also:posthumous Le Reve et la vie (1855); See also:Maurice See also:Tourneux's See also:sketch in his Age du romantisme (1887); and a sympathetic study of temperament in the Nevroses (1898) of Mme Arvede Barine. See also G. Ferricres, Gerard de Nerval (1906).

End of Article: NERVAL, GERARD

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
NERVA, MARCUS COCCEIUS 		[next]
NERVE (Lat. nervus, Gr. vevpov, a bowstring)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries