Poet, novelist, storyteller, dramatist, journalist, outstanding critic in the fields of literature, art and dance, human being extraordinaire Théophile Gautier had a flair for the exotic and the emotionally intense, an author who has been linked to, among various others, the literary worlds of romanticism, decadence and the supernatural. Ultimately, no category or movement was large enough to hold Théophile Gautier as his perceptions and imagination as well as his range of interests and literary skills were simply too immense.

For those unacquainted with his writing, this book of four classic Gautier stories is a superb place to start. Each story is worthy of a complete review, so, in keeping with the respect I feel his writing requires, I will offer quotes and comments on only one story: The Mummy’s Foot. But what a story! This one is told with such breathtaking perfection – even in English translation, every image, description, turn of phrase, metaphor, every single sentence is a true gem. And the story includes themes readers back in the 1840s craved:

ANTIQUE STORE FILLED WITH OBJECTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
The story’s antique store sounds like it could be the very same Parisian antique store with the very same crafty old proprietor where Raphael, the suicidal young aristocrat, strolled in from Balzac’s The Wild Ass’s Skin.

Here is a glimpse from Gautier’s antique store: “From disemboweled cabinets escaped cascades of silver – lustrous Chinese silks and waves of tinsel, which an oblique sunbeam shot through with luminous beads, while portraits of every era, in frames more or less tarnished, smiled through their yellow varnish. The striped breastplate of a damascened suit of Milanese armor glittered in one corner; loves and nymphs of porcelain, Chinese grotesques, vases of celadon and crackleware, Saxon and old Sevres cups encumbered the shelves and nooks of the apartment.”

The more rare, the more outlandish, the more intricate the better – readers back then couldn’t get enough lavish, detailed descriptions, so the authors piled it on, room after room.

EGYPTOLOGY
Of all the world’s ancient cultures, none was more fascinating to 19th sensibilities than the culture of the Egyptian Pharaohs, pyramids, sphinxes and mummies. Stories about ancient Egypt abounded, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s Some Words with a Mummy and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Ring of Thoth.

While the Gautier’s narrator is still in the antique store, he examines what turns out to be the mummified foot of an Egyptian princess, or so he is told by the old merchant. Toward the end of the author’s description of the foot, we read, “The sole, scarcely streaked by a few almost imperceptible cross lines, afforded evidence that it had never touched the bare ground, and had only come in contact with the finest matting of Nile rushes and the softest carpets of panther skin.”

Such a royal object! No wonder the old merchant reacts with astonishment when the narrator says he wants the princess’s foot for a paperweight. The old man exclaims, “Old Pharaoh would certainly have been surprised had someone told him that the foot of his adored daughter would be used for a paper-weight .“ Indeed, surprises abound throughout the tale to its last sentence.

VIVID DREAMS OF BEAUTY
Slightly drunk on wine and the sweet, powerful perfume of the Princess’s foot (after all those years!) our young aristocratic narrator goes to sleep and falls into a dream. The rhythm of the plot and the way Gautier intertwines the narrator’s actual room and the dream fantastic is nothing short of magnificent. If you enjoy bathing in the magic of romantic dreams of beautiful landscapes and unexpected happenings, you might very well count this Gautier story as one of your all-time favorites. I myself have read and listened to this story (thank you, audible.com) many times and plan to continue doing so.

To provide a taste of the exquisite language Gautier uses in the dream sequence, here is one last quote: ”We traversed corridors hewn through the living rock. Their walls, covered with hieroglyphics and paintings of allegorical processions, might well have occupied thousands of arms for thousands of years in their formation. These corridors of interminable length opened into square chambers, in the midst of which pits had been contrived, through which we descended by cramp-irons or spiral stairways. These pits again conducted us into other chambers, opening into other corridors, likewise decorated with painted sparrow-hawks, serpents coiled in circles, symbols of the tau and pedum -- prodigious works of art which no living eye can ever examine-interminable legends of granite which only the dead have time to read through all eternity.”

Only a reader who doesn’t have a romantic bone in their body could fail to love this sumptuous Gautier. And this book contains three others – what a literary feast.


Théophile Gautier, 1811 - 1872 ( )

Poet, novelist, storyteller, dramatist, journalist, outstanding critic in the fields of literature, art and dance, human being extraordinaire Theophile Gautier had a flair for the exotic and the emotionally intense, an author who has been linked to, among various others, the literary worlds of romanticism, decadence and the supernatural. Ultimately, no category or movement was large enough to hold Theophile Gautier; his perceptions and imagination as well as his range of interests and literary skills were simply too immense.

For those unacquainted with his writing, this book of four classic Gautier stories is a great place to start. Each story is worthy of a complete review, so, in keeping with the respect I feel his writing requires, I will offer quotes and comments on only one story: The Mummy’s Foot. But what a story! This one is told with such breathtaking perfection – even in English translation, every image, description, turn of phrase, metaphor, every single sentence is a true gem. And the story includes themes readers back in the 1840s craved:

An antique store chock full of unusual and mysterious objects from around the world
The story’s antique store sounds like it could be the very same Parisian antique store with the very same crafty old proprietor where Raphael, the suicidal young aristocrat, strolled in from Balzac’s ‘The Wild Ass’s Skin’. Here is a glimpse from Gautier’s antique store: “From disemboweled cabinets escaped cascades of silver – lustrous Chinese silks and waves of tinsel, which an oblique sunbeam shot through with luminous beads, while portraits of every era, in frames more or less tarnished, smiled through their yellow varnish. The striped breastplate of a damascened suit of Milanese armor glittered in one corner; loves and nymphs of porcelain, Chinese grotesques, vases of celadon and crackleware, Saxon and old Sevres cups encumbered the shelves and nooks of the apartment.” The more rare, the more outlandish, the more intricate the better – readers back then couldn’t get enough lavish, detailed descriptions, so the authors piled it on, room after room.

Egyptology
Of all the world’s ancient cultures, none was more fascinating to 19th sensibilities than the culture of the Egyptian Pharaohs, pyramids, sphinxes and mummies. Stories about ancient Egypt abounded, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Some Words with a Mummy’ and Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Ring of Thoth’. While the Gautier’s narrator is still in the antique store, he examines what turns out to be the mummified foot of an Egyptian princess, or so he is told by the old merchant. Toward the end of the author’s description of the foot, we read, “The sole, scarcely streaked by a few almost imperceptible cross lines, afforded evidence that it had never touched the bare ground, and had only come in contact with the finest matting of Nile rushes and the softest carpets of panther skin.” Such a royal object! No wonder the old merchant reacts with astonishment when the narrator says he wants the princess’s foot for a paperweight. The old man exclaims, “Old Pharaoh would certainly have been surprised had someone told him that the foot of his adored daughter would be used for a paper-weight . . “ Indeed, surprises abound throughout the tale to its last sentence.

Vivid Dreams of Beauty
Slightly drunk on wine and the sweet, powerful perfume of the Princess’s foot (after all those years!) our young aristocratic narrator goes to sleep and falls into a dream. The rhythm of the plot and the way Gautier intertwines the narrator’s actual room and the dream fantastic is nothing short of magnificent. If you enjoy bathing in the magic of romantic dreams of beautiful landscapes and unexpected happenings, you might very well count this Gautier story as one of your all-time favorites. I myself have read and listened to this story (thank you, audible.com) many times and plan to continue doing so.

To provide a taste of the exquisite language Gautier uses in the dream sequence, here is one last quote: ”We traversed corridors hewn through the living rock. Their walls, covered with hieroglyphics and paintings of allegorical processions, might well have occupied thousands of arms for thousands of years in their formation. These corridors of interminable length opened into square chambers, in the midst of which pits had been contrived, through which we descended by cramp-irons or spiral stairways. These pits again conducted us into other chambers, opening into other corridors, likewise decorated with painted sparrow-hawks, serpents coiled in circles, symbols of the tau and pedum -- prodigious works of art which no living eye can ever examine-interminable legends of granite which only the dead have time to read through all eternity.” Only a reader who doesn’t have a romantic bone in their body could fail to love this Gautier story. And this book contains 3 others – what a literary feast.

( )