A Visionary Book: Charles Nodier's L'Histoire du Roi de Boheme et de ses sept chateaux

Abstract

Charles Nodier’s Histoire du Roi de Bohême is original in several respects: it is the first French Romantic illustrated book; it introduces into writing a completely new typographic expressivity; and it represents an aside in the oeuvre of an author torn between "bibliomania" and the love of fantastic tales. The purpose of this article is to analyze the various functions of the image and the typography within L’Histoire du Roi de Bohême, and to show that these visual representations of the written word, which give the effect of both spectacle and plastic utterance, mark the beginning of a quest that will find its completion many years later. It will also be seen that the author who is thus dispossessed of his control over narration is the very same one who is fascinated by the "dispossession" of dreams; and that for him, a compelling necessity links this book to the oneiric inspiration peculiar to his tales.