WRITER

Gérard de Nerval

1808 - 1855

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Gérard de Nerval (French: [ʒeʁaʁ də nɛʁval]; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romanticism, and best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection Les Filles du feu (The Daughters of Fire), which included the novella Sylvie and the poem "El Desdichado". Through his translations, Nerval played a major role in introducing French readers to the works of German Romantic authors, including Klopstock, Schiller, Bürger and Goethe. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Gérard de Nerval has received more than 482,091 page views. His biography is available in 51 different languages on Wikipedia. Gérard de Nerval is the 501st most popular writer (up from 522nd in 2019), the 587th most popular biography from France (up from 612th in 2019) and the 89th most popular French Writer.

Gérard de Nerval was a French poet and novelist who is most famous for his novel "Les Chimères".

Memorability Metrics

  • 480k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 66.89

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 51

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.00

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.52

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Oeuvres
1952
Sylvie
1887
Les illuminés
1868
Les filles du feu
1856
Voyage en Orient
Biography & Autobiography
"In 1844 the French painter and poet Gerard de Nerval travelled to the Levant, to Cairo, Beirut and Constantinople, the 'font of drug-taking', in search of hashish, new and wondrous experiences, the occult, encounters with the culture of the Middle East and, especially, the pursuit of the Eternal Female." "Journey to the Orient is the result of these adventures. Whether he is describing the return of the pilgrims from Mecca or the niceties of buying a Javanese slave-girl, Nerval has an eye for the real which is at once fantastic and humorous." "Impressionistic and lively, immediate and nervous, the style has not dated, and with his wild fluctuations of mood, the swashbuckling narrator reminds the reader of Henry Miller. Journey to the Orient is one of the most important literary rediscoveries of the past half-century."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1867
Aurélia
Fiction
An autobiographical fiction of major appeal.
19104 / 5

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Gérard de Nerval ranks 501 out of 7,302. Before him are Patricia Highsmith, George R. R. Martin, G. K. Chesterton, Christopher Marlowe, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, and Henri Barbusse. After him are Juan Ramón Jiménez, Thomas Paine, Baldassare Castiglione, Philip Larkin, Anthony Burgess, and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1808, Gérard de Nerval ranks 11. Before him are Antonio Meucci, Frederick VII of Denmark, Patrice de MacMahon, Emir Abdelkader, Jefferson Davis, and Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria. After him are Thomas Cook, Johann Gustav Droysen, David Strauss, Maria Malibran, Mohammad Shah Qajar, and Carl Spitzweg. Among people deceased in 1855, Gérard de Nerval ranks 6. Before him are Carl Friedrich Gauss, Søren Kierkegaard, Nicholas I of Russia, Charlotte Brontë, and Adam Mickiewicz. After him are Infante Carlos, Count of Molina, Adelaide of Austria, Pavel Nakhimov, Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, François Rude, and Maria Theresa of Austria.

Others Born in 1808

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Others Deceased in 1855

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In France

Among people born in France, Gérard de Nerval ranks 587 out of 6,770. Before him are Niki de Saint Phalle (1930), Francis, Duke of Guise (1519), Maurice Jarre (1924), Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627), Henri Barbusse (1873), and René Lacoste (1904). After him are Joseph Proust (1754), Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788), Roger Garaudy (1913), Margaret of Anjou (1430), Françoise Hardy (1944), and Antipope Clement VII (1342).

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Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, Gérard de Nerval ranks 89. Before him are Jules Michelet (1798), Louise de La Vallière (1644), Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848), Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394), Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627), and Henri Barbusse (1873). After him are Anaïs Nin (1903), Alfred Jarry (1873), Camille Flammarion (1842), Marie-Antoine Carême (1784), Pierre de Ronsard (1524), and Paul Claudel (1868).

French born Writers

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