Nineteenth-Century French Studies

Abstract:

The article examines the contradictory nature of the lineage of the “fils du feu,” a recurring and mythical anti-royalty theme in Nerval’s work. It argues that ideas of two competing royalties and of an essential fire are present in his earliest works and initially associated with various historical and fictional figures. With the publication in April 1850 of the story “Histoire de la reine du matin,” the combination of these elements is endowed with a fully detailed explanatory and descriptive myth. Nerval imagines two parallel destinies for the lineage of fire, of which one tends to dominate in his later work, against the backdrop of political events of the time. The evolution of Nerval’s royalty of fire attests to the utopias and disillusionment inspired by the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. (In French)