Aurelia & Other Writings (187897209X)
Aurelia & Other Writings (187897209X) |
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Customer Reviews: Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0 Good Introduction to Artaud:
Concentrated Romanticism: I love Nerval's voice and his lush dreamy nostalgia. Many of these pieces are like looking at a Rococo painting and there's many of the classic Romantic themes, love of nature, nostalgia for a lost idyllic past and lost youth. I love literary surrealism so Aurelia was right up my alley but it has a more spiritual vibe which seems lacking in more modern surrealist works. After reading Nerval I can see why the surrealists considered themselves the prehensile tail of Romanticism. tragic search for the infinite: simultaneously one of the saddest and most hopeful books i have ever read, this is an account of gerard de nerval's descent into insanity and his frantic search for something beyond what the positivists offer, a "spirit world". nerval obsesses over an actress who barely knew he existed, idealizing her to a seriously nutty point--but during all this he visits funerals, graveyards other places, apparently believing he is in touch with something metaphysical. i read this book awhile ago but i do remember his... like Proust condensed: that's the best way to put it: like condensed Proust. De Nerval's stories of place, love, and memory have found a permanent place in my heart. As other reviewers have noted, these stories seem the very definition of romanticism-- an unexpected quality in a writer often remembered most for his madness, eccentricity, and ultimately, suicide.
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