Double Life: "The Dead in Love"

By day he is a country priest. By night, he is the consort of a vampiric woman. Which identity is real and which is a dream? Gautier's 1836 tale captures the extent to which the dreaming self aspires to its own autonomy, its own life. Can the priest integrate that self into his waking identity?

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Gautier, "The Dead in Love"

Questions:

1. What is unusual about the priest's cycle of wakefulness and sleep?

2. What happens during his ordination? How does he eventually come to see Clarimonde again?

3. Describe Clarimonde's powers. What does she want? How does she transform the priest?

4. What is the role of Sérapion in the story?

5. Which world does the priest eventually choose to live in and why?

Activities:

Film Study--Passion of Mind: See Alain Berliner's 2000 "Passion of Mind" which is in many ways a modern retelling of "The Dead in Love." However, note carefully where the stories diverge. Why does Demi Moore's character create a double dream life? How does she choose which world to live in?