Byron and the First Poems of Gérard de Nerval: Psychocriticism and `Literary Influence'

Insights derived from Charles Mauron's psychocritical theory, in particular his analysis of literary assimilation and identification, are applied to a close study of Nerval's adolescent imitations of some Napoleonic poems of Byron. Nerval's postulated mythe personnel helps to illuminate the processes involved in selecting the originals and in their assimilation and re-creation. These same processes redefine the importance of Pensée de Byron (1827) in Nerval's work and suggest a deeper and more permanent "influence" of Byron extending through the later work of Nerval. (MJB)