gÉrard de nerval and renÉ daumal, two nyctalopes

GÉRARD DE NERVAL AND RENÉ DAUMAL, TWO NYCTALOPESAuthor(s): Hilda NelsonSource: Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. 8, No. 3/4 (Spring-Summer 1980), pp. 236-251Published by: University of Nebraska PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23536668 .

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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 seda à merveille l'esprit dont nous nous réclamons." 1

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, Manifeste du surréalisme (Paris, 1962), p. 39.

236



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 maintenant je puis faire de petites explorations là-dedans. Tu

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 jeu, vol. II. Textes essentiels et documents

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



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 Nerval, Oeuvres, I (Paris, 1966), pp. 412-413. 7 Daumal, Chaque fois..., p. 60.




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 ..., p. 140. 10 Daumal, Chaque fois ..., pp. 56-57. 11 Daumal, Chaque fois..., p. 63.




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.




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 impuissance." 13

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

perishable envelope — the 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

précisément que j'aurais employé à la chausser dans la vie corporelle." 14

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, Chaque fois..., p. 58.




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 Analogue (Paris, 1952), pp. 133-134.

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 analogy — a surface of discontinuity. Daumal was

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.




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




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.




comme si elles existaient simultanément." 18 And it is the same uncle

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

mes traits, et bientôt tu me verras telle que je suis.' "19 Salvation and

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 qui est la Porte...."20 The narrator of Aurélia now under

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

63-64.




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,

on ne saurait expliquer qu'elle dominait si dramatiquement ses rêves. 24

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




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

cette porte 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 Daumal, Le Mont Analogue, p. 19. 26 Although one 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.




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. Due to gravity, space is curved

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 apparent that Daumal is playing here with the idea of

relativity and warped space — an idea that was developed in the 1910s when

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.




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 salvation, it is necessary for each generation to prepare the 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 Daumal, Le Mont Analogue, p. 195.




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




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



gÉrard de nerval and renÉ daumal, two nyctalopes

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