GÉRARD DE NERVAL AND RENÉ DAUMAL, TWO NYCTALOPES

Author(s): Hilda Nelson

Source: Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. 8, No. 3/4 (Spring-Summer 1980), pp. 236-
251
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
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GÉRARD DE NERVAL AND RENÉ DAUMAL, TWO
NYCTALOPES

Hilda Nelson

For many years the name of René Daumal and his dedication to
penetrating the gates of ivory and entering the universe supplementary
to this one has been eclipsed by the writings and presences of the
better-known names of surrealists such as André Breton, Louis Aragon,
and Paul Eluard. Undountedly, the reason for the silence on the part
of academicians and critics is due, in part, to the fact that Daumal
and his co-editors of the review Le Grand Jeu refused to conform to
the ideas and tenets of the leading surrealists of the late 1920s, a
nonconformism that led to the "excommunication" of Daumal and his
co-editors in 1929 when Breton called a meeting, alledgedly to discuss
surrealism and its commitment to the Communist Party, but, in reality,
to discuss the young upstarts of Le Grand Jeu who were deviating from

what Breton considered the accepted tenets of surrealism.

To be ignored and obscured by more robust writers and presences

is, however, hardly uncommon in the annals of literary history. Gérard
de Nerval, like so many other "petits romantiques" was also oversha
dowed by giants such as Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, and Baudelaire,
and it is only relatively recently that his contes and nouvelles have
gained the recognition they so obviously deserve. Even Nerval, the
poet, has been somewhat obscured by the names of Lamartine, Musset,

and Vigny, despite the enthusiasm Breton evinced for Nerval and his
ready acknowledgement of the influence Nerval had on so many of

the surrealists. Indeed, Breton devotes several lines in his Manifeste

of 1924 to the inventor of the term "supernaturalisme," a term Nerval
used in the preface to Les Filles du Feu. "Nerval," says Breton, "pos
1
seda à merveille l'esprit dont nous nous réclamons."

To couple the names of Daumal and Nerval should come as no

surprise, for not only do the two men share common fates and attitudes

1 André Breton, du surréalisme (Paris, 1962), 39.

Manifeste p.

236

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 237

toward life and art but, more importantly, references to Nerval and
his works abound in the writings of Daumal. It is not often that one
can pair the names of two literary men so intimately and unreservedly
as one can with the names of Daumal and Nerval. The only other

instance of so obvious a case of "elective affinities" is that of Bau

delaire and Poe. The powerful affinity on the part of one writer for
another, so apparent in Daumal for Nerval and Baudelaire for Poe,
is predicated on the ability and need of the one to project himself
dans la peau de l'autre so spontaneously and completely that they
experience the same fears, anguish, and despair, the same metaphysical
homelessness, as well as the same fascination for and desire to "nier
tout et ne plus concevoir que l'abîme."2 In an essay entitled "Nerval,

le Nyctalope," which appeared in an issue of Le Grand Jeu, Daumal

says : "J'y ai suivi Gérard de Nerval, j'ai vu par ses yeux comme
j'avais vu par les miens, les mêmes spectacles. Te souviens-tu de ce

soir dans ce jardin public où tu m'as brûlé la cervelle? J'étais sur le

point de partir et j'avais fait, avec une facilité qui m'étonnait, l'aban
don de la terre."3

Both Daumal and Nerval were intensely preoccupied with the

nature of reality and the dream, and expressed through their writings
the determination to enter the invisible and impalpable world behind the
world of appearances. Both saw in the dream "la clef des problèmes
métaphysiques,"4 a means of liberating man from the human condition.
Each was interested in and experimented with extra-sensory perception
and the dédoublement du moi. In Lettres à ses amis Daumal says:
"Dès je puis faire de petites explorations là-dedans. Tu
maintenant
sais comment: dans les profonds sommeils, etc. Mais tu sais, tu sais
bien. Tu vois : je n'espère pas la Mort (subir la Mort), mais je veux la
posséder (elle m'aura peut-être mille et mille fois avant que moi je ne
l'aie, mais fatalement je l'aurai : je n'ai pas à l'espérer). Mais il faut
qu'un jour tu puisses lire Aurélia et tu verras mieux."5 Indeed, Nerval,
long before Freud and Jung, sensed that by exploring the unconscious
certain dormant forces could be released and that through the dream
man could enter into communication with the world behind the world

2 Michel Random, le grand vol. II. Textes essentiels et documents

jeu,
(Paris, 1971), p. 51.
2 René Daumal,
Chaque fois que l'aube paraît (Paris, 1953), p. 59.
4 Michel
Random, p. 28.
5 Lettres à ses amis, vol. I (Paris,
Daumal, 1953), p. 155.

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238 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

of appearances. Thus man could become a seer, a nocturnal seer, whose

dreams were a decent into the dark regions of the self. Nerval develops
these concepts in almost all of his writings; but it is especially in his
epilogue to Aurélia that these concerns are summarized :
"1 '
WJMJ
C'est ainsi que je m'encourageais à une audacieuse tentative. Je résolus de fixer
le rêve et d'en connaître le secret." ... Le sommeil occupe le tiers de notre vie.
Il est la consolation des peines de nos journées ou la peine de leurs plaisirs;
mais je n'ai jamais éprouvé que le sommeil fut un repos. Après un engourdis
sement de quelques minutes une vie nouvelle commence, affranchie des con
ditions du temps et de l'espace, et pareille sans doute à celle qui nous attend

après la mort. Qui sait s'il n'existe pas un lien entre ces deux existences et s'il
n'est pas possible à l'âme de le nouer dès à présent?"

De ce moment, je m'appliquai à chercher le sens de mes rêves, et cette

inquiétude influa sur mes réflexions de l'état de veille. Je crus comprendre

qu'il existait entre le monde externe et le monde interne un lien....6

Exploration of the unconscious via the dream and the realization

that there exists a correspondance between the internal and the external
world, led Nerval to occupy himself with the occult and Oriental
theosophies and cosmogonies. By studying the sacred writings of the
Orient, which attempted to cut through illusion, Nerval hoped to
decipher the underlying significance of the physical world and find a
correspondence between the material and the spiritual world, between
the macrocosm and the microcosm. It is precisely these endeavors that
made such an indelible impression on the young Daumal when he
first read the works of Nerval. For Daumal, like his mentor Nerval,
strove to find the "point sublime," the "vases communicants," between
the world of reality and the world of the dream in the hope of discov
ering a "nouvel âge d'or."
It is primarily Aurélia, the work in which Nerval most completely
resolves to fuse the world of reality with the world of the dream, that
captured the fertile imagination of Daumal. "Mais jamais," says Dau
mal, "oh ! non, jamais aucun livre de ma main n'aura aussi exactement
la couleur de mon sang, jamais aucun livre ne sera aussi sincèrement
le mien qu'Aurélia."'7 Indeed, it is precisely in Aurélia that the narrator
succumbs completely to the world of the dream and the dédoublement
du moi. It is in these series of dreams — that "seconde vie" —, and

6 Gérard de Oeuvres, I (Paris, 412-413.

Nerval, 1966), pp.
7 Daumal, 60.
Chaque fois..., p.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 239

which make up the greatest part of Aurélia, wherein lies the hope
that certain and indubitable knowledge of the self and the universe can
be gained and which will help the narrator in his long and painful
odyssey into the dark regions of the unconscious where "le moi...
continue l'œuvre de l'existence."8
Daumal, too, had visited these landscapes of the mind, these maps
of hell, while undertaking his own descents into hell. In similar fashion,
Daumal wants to "chercher à décrire, toujours par cette expression
directe, des rêves frappants, des hallucinations, ou ces vagues souvenirs
ancestraux, tristes comme une musique d'îles lointaines."9 From his
earliest childhood recollections, the dream had played an important
role in his waking as well as in his sleeping life. "Les plus anciens et
les plus riches souvenirs des toutes premières années de ma vie sont
des souvenirs de rêves. Depuis, c'est toujours dans le même Pays que
me mènent, à certaines époques mes sommeils une fois dépassée la
région intermédiaire des rêves légers."10 The landscapes both men
experience are identical and Daumal is able to accompany the narrator
of Aurélia into all of them : Paris, the banks of the Rhine, the abode of
his ancestor, or the Mysterious City of the Dead. It is this latter land
scape that makes Daumal cry out: "et surtout qu'elle lumière—lu
mière sans soleil, évidemment — y règne." Indeed, this strange illu
mination, this light without sun, which reigns in the City of the Dead,
Daumal had already seen it in his own descent into the unconscious.
"Je l'appelais d'abord, avant d'en avoir entendu parler par d'autres,
'lumière astrale.' "11 Nerval and his spiritual heir, Daumal, explain
that the sun never shines in dreams, and that these areas, although
bright, exhibit a luminosity that is always artificial.
Closely linked to the idea of the dream as a second life, is the idea
of the dédoublement du moi or double, which plays an equally prom
inent role in the works of Nerval as well as Daumal. As for Nerval,
it is evident in his two tales Histoire du Calife Hakem and Le Roi de
Bicêtre. But it is especially obvious in Aurélia where it takes on a
personal as well as an artistic dimension. The idea of the double is,
of course, closely linked to the problem of the dichotomy of reality
and the dream, for to question the nature of reality ultimately resulted

8
Nerval, I, p. 359.
9 Daumal, Lettres ..., 140.
p.
10
Daumal, Chaque fois ..., pp. 56-57.
11
Daumal, Chaque fois..., p. 63.

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240 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

in man questioning his very existence, the existence and unity of his
ego. In the works of Nerval the notion of the double takes on various
meanings and uses. On the one hand, meeting one's double or férouër
may signify the approach of death. But it can also be understood on
a more abstract level: fear of extinction, of l'anéantissement du moi

which gives rise to the creation of a dual personality with a double

destiny. Furthermore, by creating for oneself an alter ego, it is possible
to free oneself from certain responsibilities, for the double can do
things that the I cannot permit itself to do and thereby serves as an
emotional outlet. During the course of his odyssey, the narrator of
Aurélia enters a large room where he sees people assembled to witness

a marriage. The groom is expected :

Aussitôt un transport insensé s'empara de moi. J'imaginais que celui qu'on

attendait était mon double, qui devait épouser Aurélia, et je fis un scandale qui
sembla consterner l'assemblée. Je me mis à parler avec violence...
En ce moment, un des ouvriers de l'atelier que j'avais visité en entrant parut,
tenant une longue barre, dont l'extrémité se composait d'une boule rouge au
feu. Je voulus m'élancer sur lui, mais la boule qu'il tenait en arrêt menaçait
toujours ma tête. On semblait autour de moi me railler de mon impuissance ...12

Already at the beginning of Aurélia the narrator experiences an

instance of the dédoublement du moi. Nerval's narrator has just set out

on a lonely road in order to follow his Etoile "Vers l'Orient." Suddenly

he has been stopped and he soon finds himself on a campbed in
prison. When the narrator tries to convey to his guards that he has
been unjustly imprisoned, he hears a strange voice mingle with the
mutterings of the soldiers. Later, when he is being released from prison,
he has the strange sensation of seeing his double leave with his friends
while he remains behind. The narrator eventually realizes that man
has a dual nature, one leading toward good, the other toward evil.
The two incidents experienced by the narrator are singled out by
Daumal who shares with the narrator the terrible feeling of impotence
suffered in the dream. Like Nerval, Daumal is aware that the dream
can be troubling as well as illuminating and that these "portes d'ivoir
ou de corne" that separate our waking life from our second, nocturnal

life, can cause us to experience anguish at what we might experience

on the other side. Daumal, too, cries out when he recollects his own
feeling of impotence.

12
Nerval, p. 384.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 241

Cette presence du Double qui agit, sans qu'on n'y puisse rien, en votre nom,

qui vous vole le feu de votre vie, et cette impuissance de votre colère! Je me
souviens qu'au pays des morts, où j'ai passé quelques secondes (sans doute) de

rêve, qui étaient des mois, j'avais en arrivant là, voulu me fâcher, moi aussi ;

je ne savais pas encore, mais la désespérante facilité du moindre geste..., le

sourire d'ironie fatale des autres morts et la douceur implacable du visage du
maître m'avaient vite desarmé. Nerval, combien d'hommes avec moi savent quels
sanglots il faut étouffer quand tu dis cette simple phrase : "On semblait autour
de moi me railler de mon 13
impuissance."

The term "impuissance" is, indeed, a crucial one. It could, as L. E.

Sébillotte contends, center around the fear of sexual impotence which
Nerval seems to have experienced throughout much of his life. But
it could also express the feeling of impotence one often experiences in
the dream when one is incapable of acting or reacting and when one
feels that the people surrounding one in the dream are either unaware

of one's existence or refuse to acknowledge one's presence. In either

case the feeling of anguish and impotence overwhelms one to such

a degree that it continues to linger on in the waking life. Conversely,
the feeling of anguish experienced during one's waking life, brings
abont the impotence felt during the dream.
In his allusions to Nerval's various experiences of the dédoublement

du moi, Daumal narrates how he and his "Phrères Simplistes," as they

called themselves, had experienced instances of disassociation. He tells
how they had perfected the art of travelling without the aid of that
— the
perishable envelope body —, and entering into the impalpable
and invisible world, that realm where neither space, time, nor disinte
gration exist. Thus Daumal and a "Phrère" would consent to meet
in their dreams at a given time and together walk for hours through
the dark streets of the city, eventually to part and return to their res

pective beds and bodies. And, adds Daumal, "j'imaginais chaque geste
dans ses moindres détails et avec une telle exactitude que je devais
me représenter l'action de chausser une espadrille dans le même temps
14
précisément que j'aurais employé à la chausser dans la vie corporelle."
The following day, Daumal and his "Phrère" would meet the other
"Phrères Simplistes" and recount their experiences of the previous
night. It is thus understandable that if Daumal could meet in spirit
with his "Phrères" and walk with them through the landscapes of

13 Daumal,
Chaque fois..., p. 63.
14 Daumal, 58.
Chaque fois..., p.

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242 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

the mind, it is not difficult to assume that he could also lose himself
with Nerval as the latter traverses the long corridors, or climbs and
descends the immense staircases of his own mind.
An instance of the double and the dédoublement du moi in the
works of Daumal is evident in the legend entitled "Histoire des Hom
mes-creux et de la Rose-amère" inserted in the pages of his "récit
véridique," Le Mont Analogue. In this tale Mo and Ho are twins who
can be told apart only by the medallion they wear: Mo's necklace
bears a cross ; that of Ho a circle. When the time has come for the
father to impart his knowledge to his eldest son, he attempts to resolve
the problem by decreeing that whosoever finds and brings back the
Bitter-Rose, the flower of discernment, to be found at the summit of
the highest peaks, will be named his successor.
Mo sets forth. Soon he sees the Bitter-Rose above him. In his
attempt to pluck the flower, he kills a Hollow-Man who lives in the
rock, and the Bitter-Rose retreats. Undaunted, Mo returns the next day,
but he never completes his quest. He joins the Hollow-Men who, it is
said, are the dead or, perhaps, extensions of the living. It is now Ho's
turn to seek both Mo and the Bitter-Rose. He discovers Mo in the
shape of a hollow and strikes at his head as he had been told to do.
Suddenly,

La forme de Mo devient immobile. Ho fend la glace du sérac, et entre dans la

forme de son frère, comme une épée dans son fourreau, comme un pied dans
son empreinte. Il joue des coudes et se secoue, et tire ses jambes du moule de
glace. Et il s'entend dire des paroles dans une langue qu'il n'a jamais parlé. Il
sent qu'il est Ho, et qu'il est Mo en même temps. Tous les souvenirs de Mo
sont entrés dans sa mémoire, avec le chemin du pic Troue-les nues, et la
demeure de la Rose-amère.15

15 Daumal, Le Mont 133-134.

Analogue (Paris, 1952), pp.
In a discussion of the legend of the Hollow-Men, the temptation is irresistible
to note the names of the twins Mo and Ho in conjuction with the medallions
they wear around their necks for identification. The adventure of Ho and Mo
involved the surface between their world and the subterranean Hollow-Men
— a world of negative — a surface of discontinuity. Daumal was
analogy
undoubtedly well-versed in the sciences and may have been aware of a concept
put forth in 1908 by Andrija Mohorovicic suggesting a distinct surface between
the earth's crust and its mantle, often referred to as the Mohorovicic discon
tinuity— moho, for short. When the twins Mo and Ho become one beneath
the surface of the rock, the one whole individual, Moho, wears the two medal
lions combined. The cross in the circle has long been the astronomer's symbol
of the earth.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 243

The most interesting aspect of Daumal's presentation of the double is

that it is a synthesis rather than a split or disassociation of the per
sonality. Thus man, as Daumal sees it, once he has found his ideal,
can discover his true self and the secrets of the universe ; he can become
a harmonious whole, a state for which both Daumal and Nerval
constantly strove.

Other closely related themes evident in the works of Nerval and

Daumal are syncretism, that is, a return to an universal religion com
mon to all, the notion of an universal language — an Ursprache —, and
totemism, the concept which derives whole tribes or families from an
animal, bird, or plant, together with the idea of a mystical relationship
with another group or an individual, living or dead. Throughout his
quest, the narrator of Aurélia meets several of his ancestors. But it is
above all his uncle, living on the banks of the Rhine, who serves as
his mentor and guide and who, at times, merges with a bird.
Nerval's frequent use of a bird speaking to humans and as bearer
of warnings and knowledge, confirms the fact that he used this symbol
not only for aesthetic purposes, but that it formed an integral part
of his cosmology. We know that Nerval was intent on studying the
language of birds, just as Emmanuel Swedenborg had been interested
in discovering the language of angels, both believing that they could
thereby understand the universal language of nature and, as a conse
quence, the mysteries of nature. And because comprehending the lan
guage of birds and angels is instantaneous and telepathetic, the narrator
of Nerval can understand it immediately in his dreams. Daumal, in his
essay on Nerval, points out that this phenomenon corresponds to the
totemism of primitive groups. Indeed, the use of animals and birds
denoting kinship and possessing and imparting wisdom, is evident in
almost all primitive myths and folklore, as well as those of the Judeo
Christian world. According to Jung, the bird is a symbol of transcen
dance and, like other creatures coming from the depths of the ancient
Mother Eearth, forms part of the collective unconscious and, as a
consequence, recollected during the dream.
The notion of the universality and unity of language, religion, and
myth is patently evident in the writings of Daumal. It occurs in Dau
mal's legend of the Hollow-Men when Ho suddenly finds himself
speaking a language he had never spoken before or recollecting the
memories of Mo. In his discussion of Nerval, Daumal believes that
men have the same concepts, myths, languages, and dreams because

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244 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

everything goes back to an original, elemental source: "ce monde,"

says Daumal, "est universel; je veux dire à la fois commun, a priori,

à tout esprit humain, est constituant un univers..."16 That is why,

explains Daumal, it is possible for him and his "Phrères" to share with
Nerval the same ideas and experiences, the same dreams and visions.
Thus men, centuries apart, can meet in the "point sublime," Goethe's
realm of the Mothers, and live on in the consciousness of others. The

continuity of ideas and generations is now fully established and

the kinship and mystical relationship Daumal feels for Nerval, becomes
clear. It is with this in mind that one must understand and appreciate
the opening lines of Daumal's essay on Nerval :

J'étais donc observé! Je n'étais pas seul dans ce inonde! ce monde que
j'aurais pu croire de ma seule fantaisie! ce précieux asile des dégoûtés de la
vie, des impuissants socieux, ce facile refuge pour "ceux qui s'évadent," comme
ils disent! Mais moi je ris bien quand j'entends ce langage. Oui, bien sûr, je le
savais, je l'ai toujours su qu'il était peuplé, ce monde; qu'il y avait foule,
là-dedans, et qu'un œil énorme d'ironie le dominait, soleil qui n'éclaire pas mais
qui voit, à l'opposé du soleil du jour, aveugle et lumineux, qu'un œil riait en
silence, grand ouvert sur ce domaine nocturne que l'on voudrait croire du
caprice et de la parfaite solitude. Je le sais toujours, c'est vrai, mais chaque
fois, et c'est beaucoup dire, que je relis Aurélia, un nouveau choc de certitude
au creux de l'estomac m'ouvre l'œil du cœur; j'étais donc observé! Je n'étais
pas seul dans ce monde! Puisque Nerval y est allé, puisqu'il me décrit ce que
je vis, souvent même ce que j'y vécus.17

Emerging from the concept of syncretism, Ursprache, and totemism,

is the idea of kinship and the continuity of generations. In Histoire de
la Reine du matin et de Soliman Prince des génies, the poet-seer and

architect, Adoniram has, in his decent into hell, contact with his
ancestors and is able to decipher the meaning of life and death, art
and salvation. It is here in the bowels of the earth that the descendants
of Kai'n had found a new retreat and where they had preserved their

secret and holy traditions and cults, to be revealed to Adoniram and,

ultimately, to be imparted by him to future generations. The theme
of kinship and the continuity of generations is equally prominent in
Aurélia. The narrator's ancestor, the uncle in the guise of a bird, talks
to him "de personnes de ma famille vivantes ou mortes en divers temps,

16
Daumal, Chaque fois ..., p. 57.
17
Daumal, Chaque fois..., p. 56.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 245

comme si 18 And it is same uncle

elles existaient simultanément." the

who reveals to him that men are immortal and that they will continue
to exist in a world where time has come to a standstill. The meaning of
the néant is explained to him and he discovers that it has a different
meaning for mortals than it has for the dead. Thus one should not
fear the néant for it merely signifies modification and continuity in
another dimension. Matter, like spirit, will not perish but will be
modified. The narrator then has a vision of the continuity of the human
race which appears to him as an uninterrupted chain of men and
women. Toward the end of his odyssey, a goddess comes to the nar
"
rator and says : 'Je suis la même que Marie, la même que ta mère,

la même aussi que sont toutes les formes que tu as toujours aimées.

A chacune de tes épreuves j'ai quitté l'un des masques dont je voile
"19 and
mes traits, et bientôt tu me verras telle que je suis.' Salvation

redemption, for himself and for mankind, is ultimately gained through

the intermediary of Aurélia, that composite of all women, the eternal
and universal Mother. She is, as Daumal puts it, "l'unique objet de
tout amour... Elle, l'identique immensément étendue dans le Profond
Sommeil sans fin.... Elle, la Mère Mystérieuse, qui est l'esprit de la
Vallée et est la Porte...."20 The narrator of Aurélia now under
qui
stands that his vision symbolizes the transmigration of souls and that
his role on earth is to re-establish the universal harmony of all reli
gions. He now feels that he is in communication with that secret and
hidden universe, heretofore closed to him.
In his analysis of Nerval's cosmology, Daumal makes it clear that
he does not consider these dreams, visions, or symbols to be those of

a madman. They are neither capricious nor fortuitous, and by no

means the result of a man's suppressed desires, nor his obsessions with
or fear of impotence. Rather, Daumal's intent is to show that Nerval
is well acquainted with the Books of the Dead of the Egyptians, the
Zohar, the Chhândogya Upanishad, the Aitareya Upanishad, the
Prashna Upanishad, the Tibetan legends concerning Agarttha, as well
as Kabbala, Gnosticism, and the many other occultist and mystical
beliefs that had penetrated France and Germany at the time. To be

is Nerval, 366.
p.
19 Nerval, 399. p.
20 Daumal, fois.. ., p. 68.
Chaque
21 See Michel Random, le grand jeu. vol. I. Daumal, Chaque fois..., pp.
63-64.

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246 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

considered an expert with respect to the Upanishads and the Vedas

by Daumal is exceedingly important since Daumal was himself a

scholar of Oriental mysticism and occultism.21 Daumal recalls the fact
that at the beginning of Aurélia we discover the narrator in search
of his Etoile. Indeed, explains Daumal, of the many paths or ap

proaches found in astral space, the one that was to lead Nerval to his
Etoile, his destiny, corresponds precisely with the astral arteries in
Hindu mythology. When the narrator places a talisman on a certain
part of the neck of the young man in the sanatorium, this particular
point corresponds to the aperture of Brahma, namely, the passage
of the solar ray found in the Upanishads. In fact, continues Daumal,
"je trouve dans ces textes des correspondances parfaites de chaque
vision, de chaque expérience de Nerval.22 In his use of the various
elemental creatures such as the dives, périts, ondirtes, salamandres,

afrites, etc. so prevalent in the occult world, Daumal considers Nerval

to be close to the Hindu tradition.23 With respect to Nerval's sym
bolism of the charnel-house of universal history, the harmony of the
spheres, the partition of the world, the evolution of the races, the feu
vital and unknown metals, and the ultimate pardon, all, says Daumal,
are indications of Nerval's erudition. It is the contention of Daumal
that:

rien dans ce livre n'est fortuit ni fantaisiste, que le caprice n'y a aucune part,
et que chaque affirmation, chaque description, chaque récit de Nerval peut se
retrouver mille fois dans l'énorme savoir des initiés et des voyants de tous les

âges. Et il serait vain d'expliquer les rêves de Nerval par ses lectures et sa

connaissance très vaste, reçue des francsmaçons, de la cabale, de l'hermétisme,

du pythagorisme, de la magie, des théosophies et cosmogonies, de l'Inde, de la

Perse, de la Chaldée, de l'astrologie, des légendes germaniques, etc. C'est parce

que cette science, dans son principe, était inscrite, planté entre ses yeux qu'il
fut possédé toute sa vie du besoin d'en chercher des manifestations; autrement,
dominait si dramatiquement ses rêves. 24
on ne saurait expliquer qu'elle

Up to this point, the concepts and themes in the writings of Nerval

has primarily been analysed in terms of Daumal's essays, especially
his essay on Nerval. However, the ideas scattered throughout these
essays have been set down in Le Mont Analogue. Similar to Aurélia,

22
Daumal, Chaque fois..., p. 63.
23 Daumal, 26.
Chaque fois..., p. 64, footnote
24 Daumal, 65-66.
Chaque fois..., pp.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 247

Le Mont Analogue is a spiritual quest, undertaken by the protagonist,

Pierre Sogol, and the narrator, in order to discover certain truths about
the self and the universe. In a letter dated 24 February 1940, Daumal
explains his intent in the work as well as his commitment to a second
life:

je me suis engagé à parler maintenant de l'existence d'un autre monde, plus

réel, plus coherent, où existent du bien, du beau, du vrai — dans la mesure où
les contacts que j'ai pu avoir avec un tel monde me donnent le droit et le
devoir d'en parler. J'écris en ce moment un assez long récit où l'on verra un

groupe d'êtres humains, qui ont compris qu'ils étaient en prison, qui ont

compris qu'ils devaient d'abord renoncer à cette prison, (car le drame, c'est

qu'on s'y attache), et qui partent à la recherche de cette humanité supérieure,

libérée de la prison, où ils pourront touver l'aide nécessaire. Et ils la trouvent,
car quelques amis et moi, nous avons réellement trouvé la porte. A partir de
cetteporte seulement une vie réelle commence. (Ce récit sera sous une forme
de roman d'aventures intitulé le mont analogue: c'est la montagne symbolique
qui est la voie unissant le Ciel à la Terre; voie qui doit matériellement,
humainement exister, sans quoi notre situation serait sans espoir... )25

The gate of which Daumal speaks here is, of course, "ces portes
d'ivoire ou de cornes" which affected Nerval to such an extraordinary
degree. It is this gate which leads to the discovery of the world supple
mentary to this one, the realm where the invisible is made visible
and the impalpable is made palpable. It is in search of this world,
more real and more lasting, and where men can find peace and solace,
that the strange expedition in Le Mont Analogue is undertaken.
Indeed, the purpose of this extraordinary undertaking is to discover,
by boat, the site of a mountain. But the existence of this mountain is
hypothetical. Mont Analogue is not of the realm of ordinary experience
but, rather, it exists in the universe that is analogical to this one.26
To reach this mountain several requirements must be fulfilled : "il faut
que son sommet soit inaccessible, mais sa base accessible."27 The
second requirement is that it must be unique and it must exist geo

25 Le Mont
Daumal, Analogue, p. 19.
26 one
Although may find fault with Daumal's logic at times, it is clear that
the framework of his logic is set in the context of the totalitarian principle,
first noted by T. E. White, which states that "anything not forbidden is com
pulsory." All of the "forbidden" possibilities are enumerated and eliminated,
leaving only those which are compulsory, such as existence, location, and char
acteristics of Mont Analogue.
27 Daumal, Le Mont Analogue, p. 35.

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248 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

grapically, for only then can the door to the invisible be made visible.
The machinery to discover the mountain that will unite Heaven and
Earth, the imaginary and the real, is set in motion when the narrator
receives a letter from Pierre Sogol, the initiator of the spiritual voyage.
It is only after he has met Sogol that the narrator discovers a sense
of non-belonging to the exterior world, the world of every day reality.
It is the chameleon law, the law of adaptability, to which the narrator
has just been initiated. It is a simple response to the stimuli of one's
environment, that is, it is an animal response to one's environment,
a response civilized man has completely forgotten, for he is now only
able to respond intellectually.
But to make this expedition possible more people are needed. In
order to convince others of the existence of this analogical mountain,
Sogol uses perhaps the finest example of pataphysical reasoning that
would have warmed the heart of its inventor, Alfred Jarry. By using
an orator's trick he gives to each individual present the erroneous
impression that he, each individual, alone has not yet been initiated,
and, who, then, eager to belong to the majority, becomes easily con
vinced. Then, after having ruled out several hypotheses, Sogol con
cludes that Mont Analogue can exist in any region of the surface of
the earth. If it has not been located heretofore, it is because its loca
tion is impervious to eyesight and to approach, except at certain times
and under certain conditions. Furthermore, Mont Analogue has gone
unnoticed because of curved
space. to gravity, space is curved
Due
or warped and thus it is possible to miss the mountain.28 But with
Sogol at the helm and with the proper attitude, the region of Mont
Analogue can be and, indeed, is finally penetrated.
Once they have reached the base of Mont Analogue, the travellers

discover that the chameleon law is again making itself felt. For instance,
conventional words, words used in the world of every day experience,
are no longer applicable on Mont Analogue. They also discover that
all authority is in the hands of the mountain guides and that this

28 It soon becomes that Daumal is playing here with the idea of

apparent
and warped — an idea that was developed in the 1910s when
relativity space
Einstein predicted that a beam of starlight from a distant star and passing close
to the sun on its way to earth would deflect slightly toward the sun because
of the curviture of space due to the gravitational mass of the sun. This idea,
which Einstein had predicted about the nature of the universe on the cosmic
scale, Daumal had adapted to terrestial phenomena.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 249

authority is based on the number of péradams a man has managed

to accumulate. A péradam is a true crystal and found primarily as one
begins to ascend the higher slopes of Mont Analogue. Only rarely
is it discovered on the lower slopes, and it is revealed only to those
who seek it with sincerity and a true need. It is not by accident that
it is Sogol who is the first to discover a péradam before he has even
begun his journey to the summit.
Another
discovery the travellers make during their ascent is the
importance of the continuity of generations, for one generation always
prepares the way for the next one. One caravan of climbers leaves

behind a few men to help the next group prepare camp; only then
can they continue their own ascent. In his Postface to Le Mont
Analogue Daumal explains this procedure in greater detail which
testifies to the importance he attributed to it. One of the basic laws on
Mont Analogue is that one can only reach the summit after one has
prepared the various encampments for those that follow. "C'est pour
quoi avant de nous élancer vers un nouveau refuge, nous avons dû

redescendre, afin d'enseigner nos premières connaissances à d'autres

chercheurs."29

The concept of the continuity of generations in, indeed, an essential

part of Oriental thought and we have seen to what extent both Nerval
and Daumal made use of it in their works. Besides serving as an
intellectual and artistic device, the concept plays an equally important
role in the psychic life of the two men: their fear of and obsession
with death and suicide and their urgent need for a belief in immortal
ity. Furthermore, each man believed that for man's personal and
collective it is necessary for each generation to prepare the
salvation,
next generation for the difficult voyage of life. Only through careful
preparation can the new generation discern for itself the true from
the false and the hollow, and thereby create for itself a more authentic
existence. By ridding himself of the many layers of Western civiliza
tion, especially its heritage of eighteenth century enlightenment, basic,
elemental, and total man, could once more come to the fore. Only
then could man liberate himself from the limitations of time and space
and from fear of the néant. For ultimately, Daumal and Nerval were

committed to the liberation of total man, physical as well as spiritual.

29 Le Mont 195.
Daumal, Analogue, p.

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250 Nineteenth-Century French Studies

In order to accomplish the liberation of total man, Daumal, like

Nerval, was concerned with the discovery of the paths or approaches
that lead to certain truths about man and nature. In an essay entitled

"De l'attitude critique devant la Poésie," published in Cahiers du Sud,30

Daumal attempts to show that poetry, far from being a vague and
ephemerous pastime for a few dilletants, can, indeed, lead man to live
once more in harmony with the universe and, by extension, with
himself.
The first approach or path which can contribute to man's discovery
of the self and the universe is Philosophy which Daumal conceived as
an amalgam of two complementary disciplines, namely the dialectical
method of the West, that is, Plato, Hegel, and Marx, and the disciplines
and teachings of the Orient, especially that of Budda. The combination
of these two ways of viewing the universe and man is essential to
man's liberation and rehabilitation, for Western philosophy has, un
fortunately, imposed an order upon man that conceives him as having
a dual nature and, likewise, attributes this duality to the universe. This
view of man, Daumal believes, has contributed considerably to Western
man's sense of anguish and imprisonment. The Orient, on the other
hand, by viewing man and the universe as a unified whole, has spared
man this terrible conflict between the spiritual and the material. The
second path, the occult, is closely related to the theosophies and cos
mogonies of the Orient and, as such, can equally contribute to man's
liberation. The third approach is Poetry. By combining poetry with
Philosophy and the Occult, Daumal, like the Illuminists and the Platon
ists before them, sees the poet once again as a seer and prophet,
divinely inspired and, like the magician of ancient times, able to reveal
to man the world behind the world of appearances.
We can thus see to what extent the writings of Daumal are a rep
ository for certain approaches to truth and, as such, serve future gene
rations as a guide in their own ascent to the summit of Mont Analogue.
Likewise, the writings of Nerval are also paths by which he, as well
as future generations — Daumal included — can achieve liberation and
salvation.
When compared with Daumal, it becomes evident that Nerval does
not possess the body of knowledge and the erudition that we discern
in Daumal. Nonetheless, as Daumal points out, a reading of the works

30 Le Mont 12-13.
Daumal, Analogue, pp.

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Gérard de Nerval and René Daumal 251

of Nerval indicates that he was exceedingly well-read in the writings

and documents of Oriental cults, theosophies, and cosmologies, and
that he was able to grasp and interpret them perhaps all the more
effectively because he was first and foremost an artist. As Daumal
explains, "cette science" which Nerval possessed and with which he
was so obsessed, had been "inscrite, plantée entre ses yeux." But, in
the final analysis, what really matters in an appraisal of Nerval, is the
manner in which he has succeeded in manipulating and modifying
this body of knowledge and used it to his own ends. The true artist,
the artist-seer, is, perhaps, more able than the philosopher, theologian,
or scientist, to penetrate and understand the underlying significance of
the universe. By use of analogies, correspondences, and symbols, the
artist-seer can give us a glimpse into another world and enable us to
go behind the world of appearances into the deep recesses of the mind,
his mind, since the truths and the salvation he seeks are also his own.
Thus the poet-seer may succeed whereas the philosopher fails, because
the artist does not try to reduce knowledge to the level of explanation
and analysis. He is a voyant, not a savant.

Perhaps, ultimately, it can be said that Nerval is a writers' writer,

for it has been chiefly left to writers — Proust, Breton, and Daumal —
to appreciate and explain the intricate technique and artistry of Aurélia
and Sylvie. It was Daumal who pointed out that Aurélia is the creation
of a mind that was brilliant, alive, and sensitive. It is thanks to Daumal
that the continuity of generations and individuals has become a reality.
Not only has he understood and successfully explained the important
ideas and themes to be found in the works of Nerval ; he has also been
able to identify to an extraordinary degree with the mind and soul
of Nerval, thereby making it possible for us to discover a kinship both
with Nerval and Daumal and walk through the landscapes of their
minds.

San Diego State University

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