Les Illuminés (original) (raw)

Les Illuminés is a collection of narratives or essays by the French poet and author Gérard de Nerval. Subtitled Recits et Portraits, it was published in 1852. The book consists of six narratives relating the adventures and mishaps of historical figures whose lives reflected different aspects of Nerval’s own experiences. It is a male counterpart to his Les Filles du feu. The concerns of socialism in the eighteenth century and the French Revolution underline most of the narratives. The book is also subtitled: Les precurseurs du socialisme.