Nerval’s Oriental tales dissolve solid narrative into fluid, unresolved dream

Evidence

Even the two large plotted episodes, “The Tale of the Caliph Hakim” and “The Tale of the Queen of the Morning,” that will supposedly convey a durable, solid narrative discourse seem to push Nerval away from “overground” finality, edging him further and further into a haunting internal world of paradox and dream. Both tales deal with multiple identity, one of whose motifs—explicitly stated—is incest, and both return us to Nerval’s quintessential Oriental world of uncertain, fluid dreams infinitely multiplying themselves past resolution, definiteness, materiality. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 471

Categorization

• XREF: Nerval’s multiplication of identity and fluid dreams prefigure postcolonial treatments of fragmented, non-unitary subjectivity that later readings of Orientalism will engage. — connects to: Nerval’s unfinished para-pilgrimage deliberately avoided the closure of prior Orientalist writing — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 467; A novel can deploy Orientalist clichés while still contesting them through unreliable narration; Orientalism generated a free-floating mythology detached from actual Orientals — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 151 (+3 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 471
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Nerval’s unfinished para-pilgrimage deliberately avoided the closure of prior Orientalist writing — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 467; A novel can deploy Orientalist clichés while still contesting them through unreliable narration; Orientalism generated a free-floating mythology detached from actual Orientals — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 151 (+3 more)