The first romantic ancestor of surrealism, Aloysius Bertrand

Abstract

Aloysius Bertrand was a romantic poet, largely regarded as the initiator of modern prose poem. His most accomplished work, Gaspard de la Nuit, gathered the interest of some important readers – such as Sainte-Beuve, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Max Jacob and André Breton. This article focalizes on Jacob’s parodic approach to the text and the discovery of the work by the surrealist’s group at the fi rst years of the 20th century. The ancestry of surrealism, obstinate subject in some of Breton’s writings, exposes Bertrand to an infl uent, renewed attention that will last for decades (to the present day). Keywords: Aloysius Bertrand. French romanticism. Gaspard de la Nuit. Max Jacob. André Beton. Surrealism.