Charles Nodier

French author. Born in Besançon, died in Paris. He received a gifted education from his father and spent his childhood as a precocious child. At the age of 20, he went to Paris and identified with a group of mystics. He published The Exiles (1802) and took his first steps as a novelist. After moving around various places and working as a critic and researcher, he settled in Paris. He resumed his creative work with the romantic novel Jean Sbogar (1818). He elevated his home salon in Arsenal to the center of Parisian literature (1824-30), and defended Hugo's romantic movement in its early stages, exerting a great influence on it. He was a pioneer of Nerval in placing importance on "dreams" ("sleep is the clearest state of thought") and left behind masterpieces of fantasy stories such as La Fée aux Miettes (1832). He repeatedly took up the themes of "madness," "love," and "resurrection," and through his works he hoped to restore the "Golden Age" of antiquity. His representative works include "Smarra" (1821), "Trilby" (1822), "The Tale of the King of Bohemia and the Seven Castles" (1830), and "Inés de las Sierras" (1837).

[Kazuko Nishio]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの作家。ブザンソンに生まれ、パリに没す。父の英才教育を受け早熟な少年期を過ごす。20歳でパリに出、神秘思想家グループに共鳴する。『追放者たち』（1802）を発表、小説家として一歩を踏み出す。各地を転々とし、評論活動、研究活動ののちパリに定住。ロマン主義的小説『ジャン・スボガール』Jean Sbogar（1818）によって創作活動を再開。アルスナルの自宅サロンをパリ文学の中心に盛り上げ（1824～30）、ユゴーのロマン主義運動を、その初期において擁護し大きな影響を与えた。ネルバルに先駆けて「夢」を重視し（「眠りは思考のもっとも明晰(めいせき)な状態である」）、『パン屑(くず)の妖精(ようせい)』La Fée aux Miettes（1832）をはじめ幻想物語の傑作を残した。「狂気」「愛」「復活」のテーマを繰り返し取り上げ、作品を通して古代の「黄金時代」の回復を願った。代表作に『スマラ』Smarra（1821）、『トリルビー』Trilby（1822）、『ボヘミアの王と七つの城の物語』（1830）、『イネス・デ・ラス・シエラス』（1837）など。

［西尾和子］

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