{"product_id":"the-illuminated-or-the-precursors-of-socialism-tales-and-portraits-9781939663740","title":"The Illuminated; Or the Precursors of Socialism: Tales and Portraits","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePoetical biographies of six radical thinkers from Cagliostro to Restif de la Bretonne, by the leading figure of French Romanticism\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in French in 1852, \u003ci\u003eThe Illuminated\u003c\/i\u003e was the first of a string of Gérard de Nerval's late works that would culminate in his posthumous fantastical autobiography \u003ci\u003eAurélia\u003c\/i\u003e in 1855. \u003ci\u003eThe Illuminated\u003c\/i\u003e collects six portraits of men whom Nerval mysteriously dubbed \"precursors of socialism\"--visionaries who together formed an alternative history of France and a backdrop to a mystical form of madness that Nerval ultimately claimed for himself.\u003cbr\u003eNerval here presents the reader with Raoul Spifame, a mad lawyer who imagined himself to be Henry II; the Abbé de Bucquoy, a man who opposed the monarchy and whose amazing escapes suggested the possession of magical powers; Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne, the 18th-century theosophist who defined God in human terms rather than spiritual; the Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, the famous magus and alchemist; Jacques Cazotte, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Devil in Love\u003c\/i\u003e, who created a synthesis between hermetic ideas and Catholic thought; and Quintus Aucler, a lawyer who sought to revive paganism in the unstable world of French society in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution of 1789.\u003cbr\u003eAn overlooked work by Nerval, \u003ci\u003eThe Illuminated\u003c\/i\u003e brings together the picturesque and pathos, a peculiar gallery of portraits that blur the boundaries between mysticism and mystification.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGérard de Nerval\u003c\/b\u003e (1808-55) was a writer, poet and translator who wedded French and German Romanticism and transformed his research into mystic thought and his bouts of mental illness into such visionary works as \u003ci\u003eAurélia\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wakefield Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/23\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781939663740\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.90d","brand":"Gerard De Nerval","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42303879741621,"sku":"9781939663740","price":19.51,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_7916f790-6527-4948-9566-f3b3f98238d4.jpg?v=1658843097","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-illuminated-or-the-precursors-of-socialism-tales-and-portraits-9781939663740","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}