Chapter 6

THE NOVEL OF STYLE--GAUTIER, MERIMEE, GERARD DE NERVAL, MUSSET, VIGNY 208

Gautier: his burden of "style"--Abstract (with translations) of _La Morte Amoureuse_--Criticism thereof--A parallel from painting--The reality--And the passion of it--Other short stories--Gautier's humour: _Les Jeune-France_--Return to _Fortunio_--And others--Longer books: _Le Capitaine Fracasse_ and others--_Mlle. De Maupin_--Merimee--Carmen--_Colomba_--Its smaller companions: _Mateo Falcone_, etc.--Those of _Carmen_; _Arsene Guillot_--And _L'Abbe Aubain_--_La Prise de la Redoute_--The _Dernieres Nouvelles_; _Il Viccolo di Madama Lucrezia_--_Djoumane_--_Lokis_--_La Chambre Bleue_--The _Chronique de Charles IX_--The semi-dramatic stories: _La Jacquerie_--_Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement_, etc.--Musset: charm of his dramatised stories; his pure narration unsuccessful--_Frederic et Bernerette_--_Les Deux Maitresses_, _Le Fils du Titien_, etc.--_Emmeline_--Gerard de Nerval: his peculiar position--_La Boheme Galante_, _Les Filles du Feu_, and _Le Reve et la Vie_--Their general character--Particular examples--_Aurelia_--And especially _Sylvie_--Alfred de Vigny: _Cinq-Mars_--The faults in its general scheme--And in its details--_Stello_ less of a novel, but containing better novel-stuff--Its framework and "anecdotes"--The death of Gilbert--The satiric episode: contrast--The Chatterton part--The tragedy of Andre Chenier--_Servitude et Grandeur Militaires_--The first story--The second--and third--The moral of the three--Note on Fromentin's _Dominique_: its altogether exceptional character.