SOURCE: "Théophile Gautier's 'Albertus' and the Thematics of Nailing," in Nineteenth Century French Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 & 4, Spring-Summer, 1992, pp. 317-28.

In the following essay, Vest explores Gautier's use of images of nailing in "Albertus."

To dismiss "Albertus" as a gratuitous, puerile fantasy or as a frenetic exercise in poetic license is to deny Gautier his due. Although the young writer's penchant for l'emphase and for heterogeneous subjects and styles is evident in "Albertus," yet it is also true that this poem was carefully reworked prior to publication in 1832 and that, for all its posturing and rambling, it exhibits considerable thematic and organizational coherence. Contributing to that cohesiveness is Gautier's insistence on images of nailing, images that directly counter its apparent predilection for chaotic movement. It is no accident that "Albertus" begins and ends with references to clous and that allusions to nailing recur at important points in this...