Vol. 8 No 1 (2006)
Critica

Nerval et la Hollande: à propos d'une lettre mal datée

Michel Brix
University of Namur

Publiée 06/01/2006

Mots-clés

  • Gérard de Nerval,
  • Théophile Thoré,
  • Arsène Houssaye,
  • Holland,
  • travel

Comment citer

Brix, M. (2006). Nerval et la Hollande: à propos d’une lettre mal datée. Verbum – Analecta Neolatina, 8(1), 63–67. https://doi.org/10.1556/Verb.8.2006.1.4

Résumé

Gérard de Nerval travelled to Holland twice: in September 1844 and in May 1852. Specialists maintain that an undated letter to Théophile Thoré stems from Nerval's second trip (in 1852). Written in Paris, this letter indicates that the author is about to rejoin his friend Arsène Houssaye in Brussels and asks Thoré to recommend some art galleries in Holland. At the time, Théophile Thoré was in fact a well-known art critic. In May 1852, however, he was living in exile in London. Nerval had been travelling alone at the time. Given that we know that he went to Holland with Arsene Houssaye just once, in 1844, it appears that the letter to Thoré should be dated the first two weeks of September 1844.