Nerval, Gérard de (1808–1855)

French writer and poet. He was a precursor of French symbolism and surrealism. His writings include the travelogue Le Voyage en Orient (1851); short stories, including the collection Les Filles du feu (1854); poetry, including Les Chimères (1854), a sequence of 12 sonnets; a novel Aurélia (1855), containing episodes of visionary psychosis; and several plays, in collaboration with others.

In 1828 he published a translation of Goethe's Faust and later collaborated with Théophile Gautier. He narrated his travel adventures in the Revue des deux mondes. Among his other works are Les Illuminés 1852 and Bohème galante 1855.