Nerval (1808–1855) is one of the most important writers of nineteenth-century France, both in prose and in verse. A precursor of the symbolists and the surrealists, Nerval has fascinated many major literary figures, including Proust and Breton, Eliot and Apollinaire, Michaux and Leiris. The great sonnet cycle, Les Chimères , in its marvellous combination of spell, quest and dream, continues to fascinate writers, readers, and that special category of writerly readers, translators.