Les Filles du feu (English: Girls of Fire) is a collection of short stories published by the French poet Gérard de Nerval during January 1854, a year before his death. During 1853, Nerval had suffered three nervous breakdowns and spent five months in an asylum, and he saw Les Filles du feu as an opportunity to show the public, his friends, and his father that he was sane.
However, all of the short stories in Les Filles du feu had been published p...
more
Les Filles du feu (English: Girls of Fire) is a collection of short stories published by the French poet Gérard de Nerval during January 1854, a year before his death. During 1853, Nerval had suffered three nervous breakdowns and spent five months in an asylum, and he saw Les Filles du feu as an opportunity to show the public, his friends, and his father that he was sane.
However, all of the short stories in Les Filles du feu had been published previously: "Angélique" in Les Faux Saulniers (1850), "Sylvie" in La Revue des Deux Mondes (1853), and "Emilie," "Jemmy," "Isis," and "Octavie" in multiple reviews.
Sylvie is a semi-autobiographical tale of a man who is haunted by the memory of three women in his life, all who seem to blend together. The story opens with the narrator at the theatre, where he is enamored an actress named Aurélie. He is suddenly reminded of a memory from childhood, and he experiences a flashback. First, he remembers a festival where he danced with a local girl...
less
