Gérard de Nerval, histoire et politique ed. by Gabrielle Chamarat-Malandain et al. (review)

This volume consists of twenty-three papers that were presented at the conference, ‘Nerval, histoire et politique’, held at the Archives nationales, Paris, in June 2014. The editors provide a concise summary of the essays in the Préface, and abstracts of all the essays are printed at the back. Contributors examine the wide range of Gérard de Nerval’s ideas and writings about the interactions and inter-relationships between history and politics, domains that were of central importance to him throughout his life, from his meditations on ruins (Patrick Labarthe), on the comparative history of religions (Adriana Chimu Harley), and on the influence of the democratic and republican thought of Charles Nodier (Emmanuel Buron), to four essays that deal with aspects of Nerval’s fascination with the Orient (Kan Nozaki, Sarga Moussa, Philippe Destruel, and Henri Bonnet). All four reveal that Nerval’s writings on the beliefs and customs that he observed in the Middle East are insightful and nuanced. Moussa shows the depth and subtlety of Nerval’s reactions to modernizing and Europeanizing developments that were already ongoing in the Ottoman Empire by the middle of the nineteenth century. There are interesting essays on Nerval’s relations with the French satirical press (Filip Kekus) and on his interest in and attempts to promote socialist and progressive ideas and reforms (Gabrielle Chamarat-Malandain, Jean-Nicolas Illouz, Gisèle Séginger, and Michel Brix). Jean-Marc Vasseur contributes a particularly well documented essay (accompanied by five black-and-white photographs) on Nerval’s interest in the Valois region, north of Paris, and the Abbaye royale de Chaalis. The volume is dedicated to the memory of Jacques Bony, an eminent critic and editor of Nerval’s writings. Bony’s essay, ‘Les Révolutions sont épouvantables!’, which closes the volume, is a perceptive meditation on Nerval’s complex thoughts and statements about revolution and popular rebellion against all forms of tyranny, which he believed were almost always followed by the implementation of measures restricting the people’s freedom and self-expression. This collection of essays is an important contribution to the study of Nerval’s writings on the subjects of history and politics.