thermocoolers
the salt smugglers history of the abbe de bucquoy
p if ever a writer ... sought to define himself painstakingly to himself to grasp and bring light to the murky shadings the deepest laws and most elusive impressions of the human soul it was gerard de nerval . marcel proust p every intelligent english speaking reader must be grateful to richard sieburth and archipelago books for rescuing from oblivion this gem of factual fiction revealing a nerval poised somewhere between the subversive diderot and the br vitriolic voltaire . the salt smugglers now has pride of place in my ideal library . alberto manguel p originally published as a serial work in the 1850s the salt smugglers is a biting and hilarious satire of the politics and censorship of literature ; it is an unearthed pre postmodern classic . by writing a first person narrative text in which he himself is in search of a lost book containing the history of the abbe de bucquoy gerard de nerval is able to evade the french censorship law forbidding fiction newspaper serials while at the same time underscoring its ludicrousness . with its innumerable quotations and tangential citations the salt smugglers leads the reader into a dizzying spin making way for all experimental and postmodern fiction since . p gerard de nerval was a poet visionary short story writer autobiographer and translator . his works include aurelia a memoir of madness ; sylvie a novella of love and memory ; and the hermetic sonnets of the chimeras ; as well as many fantastic tales and experimental fictions . his selected writings translated and edited by richard sieburth was recently release in the penguin classics series . p richard sieburths translations include the work of friedrich holderlin walter benjamin henri micheux georg buchner and michel leiris . his english edition of nervals selected writings won the 2000 pen book of the month club translation prize . his recent translation of maurice sceves delie was a finalist for the pen translation prize and the oxford weidenfeld translation prize .