SOURCE: "The Changing Ideal in Two of Gautier's Fictional Narratives," in The Romanic Review, Vol. LX, No. 3, October, 1969, pp. 168-73.

Between 1831 and 1865 Gautier published more than a dozen narratives—short stories, novelettes, and novels—which treat different aspects of the quest of an ideal. Taken in their chronological order, these narratives show that over the years Gautier's concept of the ideal changed radically. The change is reflected most clearly in motifs which recur in stories written several years apart. For example, the same two motifs are integral elements in both "La Morte amoureuse" and "Arria Marcella." It is my intention here, by comparing these motifs and the contexts in which they occur, to clarify certain aspects of Gautier's encounter with the ideal.

In both stories the hero's love for a dead woman brings about her resurrection. The women in question symbolize the ideal. Each stands as the highest...