Demons of the Night: Tales of the Fantastic, Madness, and the Supernatural from Nineteenth-Century France

By Honoré de Balzac and Charles Nodier

Book Overview

Demons of the Night is a trove of haunting fiction-a gathering, for the first time in English, of the best nineteenth-century French fantastic tales. Featuring such authors as Balzac, M rim e, Dumas, Verne, and Maupassant, this book offers readers familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and E. T. A. Hoffman some of the most memorable stories in the genre. With its aura of the uncanny and the supernatural, the fantastic tale is a vehicle for exploring forbidden themes and the dark, irrational side of the human psyche.

The anthology opens with "Smarra, or the Demons of the Night," Nodier's 1821 tale of nightmare, vampirism, and compulsion, acclaimed as the first work in French literature to explore in depth the realm of dream and the unconscious. Other stories include Balzac's "The Red Inn," in which a crime is committed by one person in thought and another in deed, and M rim e's superbly crafted mystery, "The Venus of Ille," which dramatizes the demonic power of a vengeful goddess of love emerging out of the pagan past. Gautier's protagonist in "The Dead in Love" develops an obsessive passion for a woman who has returned from beyond the grave, while the narrator of Maupassant's "The Horla" imagines himself a victim of psychic vampirism.

Joan Kessler has prepared new translations of nine of the thirteen tales in the volume, including G rard de Nerval's odyssey of madness, "Aur lia," as well as two tales that have never before appeared in English. Kessler's introduction sets the background of these tales-the impact of the French Revolution and the Terror, the Romantics' fascination with the subconscious, and the influence of contemporary psychological and spiritual currents. Her essay illuminates how each of the authors in this collection used the fantastic to articulate his own haunting obsessions as well as his broader vision of human experience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226432084
• ISBN13: 9780226432083
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great translations of spooky tales

Kessler's translations of these French stories are an invaluable treasure to the English speaking community. Many of these stories have never been translated or were out of print for many, many years. Kessler gives them new life in this collection that will appease both francophiles and lovers of spooky stories.

Great thanks to Kessler

I was lucky enough to read this book in a class on 19th Century French Lit. taught by Joan Kessler herself. I have never forgotten these stories or the depth of psychological exploration each presents. This amazing book brings the genre of 19th French Macabre to non-French readers for the first time. Each story is truly classic, all at once an original and the obvious predecessor of horror and psychological thrillers as we know them today. Fans of Poe will love this book, and fans of King will be delighted by these twisted tales, though they may need to keep a dictionary handy. Ms. Kessler's notes are the perfect guide through each work. She places each story in it's own history, giving ample insight into the mindset of the authors and their audiences.From beginning to end this book will keep your heart pumping. It is the perfect read for those who have a hard time finding great work. It will keep you up at night, if not out of interest, then out of terror.