Gaspard de la Nuit
, translated by Kline, A. S. (contact-email)
‘Gaspard de la Nuit’ is a collection of prose poems by French writer Aloysius Bertrand, published posthumously. The book contains 66 poems subtitled “Fantasies in the Manner of Rembrandt and Callot”.
Bertrand spent years trying to publish the work, submitting it to publishers and editors in Paris from 1829, but it nevertheless remained unpublished at the time of his death from tuberculosis in 1841. His friend David d'Angers finally achieved its publication in 1842 with help from Sainte-Beuve.
The poems present picturesque visions of the Middle Ages with Gothic and Romantic influences. Themes include castles, monasteries, supernatural creatures, alchemists, brigands and esoteric elements. The style is inspired by chiaroscuro painting techniques.
Though his work was initially overlooked, Bertrand is credited with inventing the prose-poem, which later inspired Baudelaire to pen his set of prose-poems Le Spleen de Paris. Bertrand was also admired by Mallarmé and the Symbolists, and later the Surrealists. Gaspard de la Nuit inspired a painting by Magritte, and three piano solos by Ravel.
Kline, A. S.
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