Les Illuminés, ou Les Précurseurs du Socialisme is a collection of narratives or essays by the French poet and author Gérard de Nerval published in 1852. In 2022, a complete translation by Peter Valente was published by Wakefield Press under the title The Illuminated, or The Precursors of Socialism: Tales and Portraits.
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.
Contents "La Bibliothèque de Mon Oncle," a short introduction "Le Roi de Bicêtre" "Histoire de l’Abbé de Bucquoy" "Les Confidences de Nicolas" "Jacques Cazotte", a French writer, author of The Devil in Love, unjustly guillotined during the French revolution at the age of 72. He inspired E. T. A. Hoffmann and Charles Nodier. "Cagliostro" "Quintus Aucler", the revolution-era neopagan Gabriel André Aucler
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