Customer Reviews

Smarra & Trilby (Dedalus European Classics)

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This is an incredibly important and wonderful "lost" author. NOdier, entymologist, etymologist, folklorist, political survivor (lived through the Revolution, Napoleon, Restoration, & July Monarchy), storyteller, and Romantic, is one of the first European authors to immerse his writing in the concerns of dream life and desire, and, more incredibly, to reflect the structure and deep meaning of dreams in the structure and form of his own writing. SMARRA, especially, is an inecridible and profound work of layered narrative and symbolic evocation. It is also a spooky and entertaining nightmare of a vampire story. TRILBY, a magical story of a Scottish Highland sprite, is not far behind.

Nodier was a crucial influence on Nerval, Gautier, and their heirs in the Symbolist and the Surrealist movements. As a minor Napoleonic bureaucrat in the Balkans, Nodier was influential in the collection of Slavic and Serbo-Croat folklore and helped to foster their conception of a national literature. It's from these Balkan legends that Nodier was able to become an early importer of the vampire legend into Western European literature and consciousness.

Nodier, entymologist, etymologist, folklorist, political survivor (through the French Revolution,Napoleonic Empire ,Restoration, and July Monarchy) storyteller, and Romantic, was an early author to immerse his writing in the concerns of dream life and desire, and, more incredibly, to reflect the structure and deep meaning of dreams into the structure and form of his own writing. SMARRA, especially, is an incredible and profound work of layered narrative and symbolic evocation. It is also a spooky and entertaining nightmare of a vampire story. TRILBY,the magical story of a Scottish Highland sprite, is not far behind.

Nodier is a crucial influence for Nerval, Gautier, and their later heirs in the Symbolist and Surrealist movements. As a minor Napoleonic bureaucrat in the Balkans, Nodier encouraged the collection of Slav and Serbo-Croat folklore and helped to promote the conception of a national literature in this area. Using these Balkan tales, Nodier was an early importer of the vampire legend into West European literature and consciousness.