Gérard de Nerval

Gérard de Nerval (French: [ʒeʁaʁ də nɛʁval]; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the nom-de-plume of the French writer, poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie.

He was a major figure of French romanticism who worked in many genres. He is best known for his poems and novellas, especially the collection Les Filles du feu (The Daughters of Fire), which includes the novella Sylvie and the poem El Desdichado.

Biography

Early life

Gérard Labrunie was born in Paris on 22 May 1808. His mother, Marie-Antoinette Laurent, was the daughter of a clothing salesman. Gérard's father, Étienne Labrunie, a military doctor, was given a formal position in Napoleon's Grande Armée. When he joined the campaign in Prussia, his wife followed him. On 29 November 1810, when Gérard was two years old, Marie-Antoinette died by her husband's side in Głogów. He was brought up by his maternal great-uncle, Antoine Boucher, in the countryside of Valois at Mortefontaine. On his father's return from war in 1814, Nerval was sent back to Paris. He frequently returned to the countryside of Valois during holidays, and he returned to it in imagination later in his Chansons et légendes du Valois.