Charles Nodier

Nodier, Charles 

Born Apr. 29, 1780, in Besançon; died Jan. 27, 1844, in Paris. French writer. Member of the Académie Française (1833).

The son of a lawyer, Nodier studied at the Ecole Centrale in Besançon. His first novel was The Exiles (1802). After the publication in London in 1803 of a satire on Napoleon, Nodier was forced into exile. In 1812–13 he edited the newspaper Télégraphe illyrien in Laibach (now Ljubljana). The Balkan Slavs’ struggle for independence inspired him to write the novel Jean Sbogar (published anonymously in 1818 in Paris), which became a landmark in the history of French romanticism.

On returning to Paris, Nodier founded the first cénacle (a coterie or group that formed around the early leaders of the romantic movement). His penchant for “black romance” (Smarra, 1821; published under the pseudonym M. Odin) did not affect the folktale quality of his stories, especially those written in the 1830’s. The majority of them served as models for the fantastic short story.

WORKS

Oeuvres, vols. 1–12. Paris, 1833–37.
Contes. Paris [1961].
In Russian translation:
Izbr. proizv. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.

REFERENCES

Oblomievskii, D. D. Frantsuzskii romantizm. Moscow, 1947.
Istoriia frantszuskoi literatury, vol. 2. Moscow, 1956.
Held, M. C. Nodier et le romantisme. Bonnier, 1949.
Juin, H. Charles Nodier. [Paris, 1970.] (In the series Ecrivains d’hier et d’aujourd’hui.)
Bender, E. J. Bibliographie: C. Nodier. Lafayette, Ind., 1969.

M. A. GOL’DMAN