Sylvie (book)
Encyclopedia
Sylvie is a novella
by French Romanticist Gérard de Nerval
. It was first published in the periodical La Revue des Deux Mondes in 1853, and as a book in Les Filles du feu
in 1854, just a few months before Nerval killed himself in January 1855. Sylvie is often considered Nerval's prose masterpiece, and has been a favorite of Marcel Proust
, André Breton
, Joseph Cornell
and Umberto Eco
. Harold Bloom
included it in The Western Canon (1994).
The story is about a hero's love for three women, all of whom he loses; a hymn to unattainable, unrequited love. The story begins when a paragraph in a newspaper plunges the narrator into his memories as a younger man. The perspective seems to shift back and forth between the past and present, so the reader is never entirely sure if the narrator is recounting past events from memory, or retelling current events as they happen. Critics have praised the writing for its lucid and lyrical style. The narrator, of noble status who has recently come into an inheritance, decides to leave Paris, where he is living a debauched life of theater and drink, and return to the love of his youth, a peasant girl named Sylvie who has classic features and brunette hair, a "timeless ideal". She sews gloves for a living and ends up marrying another man more equal to her class. The narrator also loves a seductive actress in Paris named Aurelia, who has many suitors who tell her empty idylls of love, but none love her for who she really is, including the narrator, who sees her as a lovely illusion that fades in the daylight of reality. The narrator also loves Adrienne, of noble birth, tall with blonde hair, she is an "ideal beauty", but she lives in a convent, and dies an early death. In the end he loves all three but obtains none, seemingly for reasons both beyond and within his making.
Sylvie has many features of Romanticism
, including flowing descriptions of a beautiful but lost natural world, appreciation for the architecture and traditions of the Middle Ages, and Greek traditions. The use of color appears to be unique, with binary oppositions serving as a simplifying mechanism to make distant memories emerge more strikingly from the mist.
The novel contains autobiographical elements. As in the story, Nerval often traveled to Germany and the east. Nerval had an unhappy love for a real actress, Jenny Colon. He had a female childhood friend named Adrienne, who he unhappily lost earlier in life. These unattainable and lost female figures are represented in the story, as well in his other works and real life, Neval lost his mother at an early age.
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by French Romanticist Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
. It was first published in the periodical La Revue des Deux Mondes in 1853, and as a book in Les Filles du feu
Les Filles du feu
Les Filles du feu is a collection of short stories published by the French poet Gérard de Nerval during January 1854, a year before his death...
in 1854, just a few months before Nerval killed himself in January 1855. Sylvie is often considered Nerval's prose masterpiece, and has been a favorite of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
, Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
and Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
. Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
included it in The Western Canon (1994).
The story is about a hero's love for three women, all of whom he loses; a hymn to unattainable, unrequited love. The story begins when a paragraph in a newspaper plunges the narrator into his memories as a younger man. The perspective seems to shift back and forth between the past and present, so the reader is never entirely sure if the narrator is recounting past events from memory, or retelling current events as they happen. Critics have praised the writing for its lucid and lyrical style. The narrator, of noble status who has recently come into an inheritance, decides to leave Paris, where he is living a debauched life of theater and drink, and return to the love of his youth, a peasant girl named Sylvie who has classic features and brunette hair, a "timeless ideal". She sews gloves for a living and ends up marrying another man more equal to her class. The narrator also loves a seductive actress in Paris named Aurelia, who has many suitors who tell her empty idylls of love, but none love her for who she really is, including the narrator, who sees her as a lovely illusion that fades in the daylight of reality. The narrator also loves Adrienne, of noble birth, tall with blonde hair, she is an "ideal beauty", but she lives in a convent, and dies an early death. In the end he loves all three but obtains none, seemingly for reasons both beyond and within his making.
Sylvie has many features of Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, including flowing descriptions of a beautiful but lost natural world, appreciation for the architecture and traditions of the Middle Ages, and Greek traditions. The use of color appears to be unique, with binary oppositions serving as a simplifying mechanism to make distant memories emerge more strikingly from the mist.
The novel contains autobiographical elements. As in the story, Nerval often traveled to Germany and the east. Nerval had an unhappy love for a real actress, Jenny Colon. He had a female childhood friend named Adrienne, who he unhappily lost earlier in life. These unattainable and lost female figures are represented in the story, as well in his other works and real life, Neval lost his mother at an early age.
External links
- Sylvie at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated)