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161 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1855
Dream is a second life.Gérard de Nerval sets out to break down the barrier between dreams and waking life. I’m on board with this. Aurélia is a lucid recitation and exposition of not only dreams, but various fugue states, metaphysical visions, hallucinatory episodes, and accounts of incarcerations in numerous asylums and clinics around the Paris metropolitan area. What is it about?! Everything! Alchemy! The creation of new life! Deconstruction and manipulation of religious iconography for covert purposes! Mythology made manifest! Obscure references to apocryphal texts! Transcendence from the corporeal world! The degree of autobiography contained within the text is irrelevant. Who cares. Suffice it to say that the man led a fascinating life, he really lived, and he wrote a fascinating book into which he likely poured a lot of raw material from that life. Here’s just a sample to whet the reading appetite:
From the moment I became certain that I was subject to sacred initiatory rights, an invincible force entered my spirit. I considered myself a living hero in the eyes of gods. Everything in nature took on new aspects, and secret voices emanated from plants, trees, animals, and the smallest insects, in order to warn me and encourage me. The language of my companions held a mysterious refrain which only I was able to comprehend, objects without shape or life lent themselves to my mental calculations; – from combinations of pebbles, from the shape of corners, crevices or openings, from the patterns of leaves, from colors, odors, and sounds, I saw emerge harmonies which had hitherto remained unknown – how, I asked myself, have I been able to exist estranged from nature for so long, without identifying with her? All things live, act, and relate to one another; magnetic rays emanating from myself or from others cross, without obstacle, the infinite chasm of all creation; these form a transparent network that covers the globe, and each separate thread communicates, one by one, to the stars and planets. Momentarily captive upon the earth, I take part in the universal chorus, which shares in all my joys and sorrows!