The Poetic Numismatics of Aloysius Bertrand

Louis Bertrand (1807-1841) known as Aloysius Bertrand, died at a very young age. He did not produce a voluminous and varied body of work. Nevertheless, his only book, Gaspard de la nuit, published after his early death, aroused admiration of all the worthy groundbreaking poets of the further generations. He was recognized as a pioneer, an early mover, in the domain of modern poetry, and as the creator of the prose poem in the history of French literature, a new genre which has led to a long posterity, and in the wake of which contemporary poetry continues to situate itself. Applauded by Charles Baudelaire who pursued the genre of the prose poem, he is recognized as a “brother” by Stéphane Mallarmé. Later, André Breton gives him a prominent role. According to Breton there are “two poets to whom should be referred the two main currents of contemporary poetry : on one hand Aloysius Bertrand who, through Baudelaire and Rimbaud, permitted us to reach Reverdy; on the other hand Gérard de Nerval, whose soul wanders from Mallarmé to Apollinaire and arrives to us.”1 Elsewhere, concerning “verbal magic” where Reverdy situates himself, Breton states: “There were only Aloysius Bertrand and Rimbaud that have ventured as far in this way.”2 These statements show the very high regard in which the leader of the surrealist movement holds Bertrand. In the Surrealist Manifesto Breton takes