Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855)
France

"Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature."

Gerard de Nerval's most memorable experience was the death of his mother, which influenced and haunted him throughout his life. He grew up in Valois, in his uncle's house, and moved to Paris when he came of age to study medecine, which was the will of his father (who was a doctor). However, he pursued literary interests. In 1834, an inheritance allowed him to travel to Italy. There he spent his money and made a living as a journalist and dramatist alongside Dumas. He traveled again before he suffered madness (1841). In between 1841 and 1853, at which time he suffered another mental crisis, he wrote and set the basis of almost all his future works. In 1855, he committed suicide.

Criticism

De Nerval's narrative masterworks include Daughters of Fire (1854), containing Sylvia and Octavie; the same collection also contained La Pandora which was published unfinished. In 1855 Aurélia was released, and it became one of his most important works, even in its unfinished state. It summarized his crises and visions. He wrote a collection of sonnets, Les chimeres (1854). Nerval's work anticapted surrealism. He accomplished and found a new stylistic balance that melted two different worlds and contradictory lexicons.

Works

Aurelia 1853-54
Les Filles du Feu 1854
Les Chimeres 1854

Additional Information
Nerval @ Poetes.com http://poetes.com/nerval http://www.lapisangularis.org/nerval.html
Center for Nerval studies http://www.fundp.ac.be/recherche/unites/en/9247.html