The Nerval Diary
Who was Gérard de Nerval?
Karl Holubar aka Nerval
'Off the Trodden Path'
The Nerval Diary
The following diary entries of Nerval aka Karl Holubar have been published in 'Dermatology' between 1994 and 2003 and are available here as free PDF files (Acrobat Reader by Adobe is required).
Article PDF
(38.0 KB)
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Dalmatian Winter
Epiphany 2003
Dermatology 2003;206(3):287–288
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Article PDF
(48.0 KB)
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11th EADV (3rd ESHDV) Meeting around the 15th Anniversary of the Foundation of the European Academy
Luxembourg, October 3, 1987, Bâtiment Jean-Monnet
'Zlata Praha – das goldene Prag'
early October 2002, or Dermatology in the Heart of Europe
Dermatology 2003;206(2):185–186
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Article PDF
(64.0 KB)
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20th World Congress and Satellite
Paris and Bordeaux, June 29 to July 3, 2002
Dermatology 2002;205(3):325-326
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Article PDF
(193.0 KB)
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Opening of the EADV House in Brussels
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Dermatology 2002;205(2):217-218
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Article PDF
(40.0 KB)
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Zeiselmauer – at my home –, December 31, 2001
Rattlebrain or Battered Brain? A posttraumatic experience with one's own central organ
Dermatology 2002;205(1):80
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Article PDF
(164.0 KB)
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Musée de l 'Hôpital Saint-Louis
Paris, Tuesday, November 27, 2001
Alibert Bicentennial 1801–2001
Dermatology 2002;204(4):368
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Article PDF
(157.0 KB)
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Aboard Austrian Airlines OS 7002
Tallin, Estonia – Vienna, November 8, 2001
Kalevipoeg
Dermatology 2002;204(3):257-258
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Article PDF
(120 KB)
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10th Congress of the EADV and 2nd Meeting of the ESHDV
Munich, October 10-13, 2001
Dermatology 2002;204(2):166
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Article PDF
(35 KB)
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London, Thursday, May 17, 2001
Dowling Club Meeting aboard HMS Belfast
Dermatology 2001;203(3):276
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Article PDF
(43 KB)
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Vienna, February 2001
From the Home Front, or Ophthalmology versus Dermatology
Dermatology 2001;203(2):198
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Article PDF
(50 KB)
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Tokyo, Keio Plaza Hotel, April 5–9, 2001
A Splendid Celebration: The 100th Birthday of the Japanese Dermatological Association
Dermatology 2001;203(1):108
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Article PDF
(38.0 KB)
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Piazza San Marco, Venice, November 19, 2000
'Entlang der Südbahn' (Along the Southern Railway) or
Galilei, Brambilla, Auenbrugger and Schubert
Dermatology 2001;202(1):84
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Article PDF
(37 KB)
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Pula (Pola) and Porec (Parenzo), Croatia, August 13, 2000
SMS Albatros 1896–1911–1995–2000: A Tortuous Story Retold
Dermatology 2000;201(4):384
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Article PDF
(264 KB)
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Nerval’s Diary on the www
Vienna, May 22, 2000, Gérard de Nerval’s (Gérard Labrunie) 192nd birthday
Dermatology 2000;201(1):83
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Article PDF
(196 KB)
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Al-Karak, Jordan, the Biblical Karkor, February 4, 2000
and February 5, South of Amman
Dermatology 2000;200(3):284
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Article PDF
(7.2 KB)
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Amsterdam, September 30, 1999
Hotel Victoria, Damrak, at the 8th EADV Congress
Dermatology 2000;200(1):92
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Article PDF
(12.7 KB)
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Kobersdorf, Austria, and Porec, Croatia, August 11–14, 1999
An Eclipse in Ferragosto
Dermatology 1999;199(4):375
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Article PDF
(30.4 KB)
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Aboard KLM Flight 743 to Ecuador, July 25, 1999
Jacobus maior, Santiago, Patron of Pilgrims
Dermatology 1999;199(3):283
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Article PDF
(7 KB)
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April 21 (the legendary day Rome was founded), 1999
In the Shadow of Aconcagua, or a pop visit to either side of the Andes
Dermatology 1999;199(2)
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Article PDF
(9.8 KB)
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Kathmandu, Nepal, March 25–27, 1999
Dermatology 1999;199(1):98
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Article PDF
(26.8 KB)
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Sana'a, Ta'izz, Thila in Yemen, February 15–19, 1999
Dermatology 1999;198(4):408
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Article PDF
(240 KB)
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Une Lettre Persane
Dermatology 1998;196(2):278–279
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Article PDF
(111 KB)
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At the Banks of the Mekong, Luang Phabang, Laos, March 18, 1997
Nerval's Diary: The End
Dermatology 1997;194:233
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Article PDF
(103 KB)
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At the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., in the week of Hanukkah, December 1996
A Homage to America
Dermatology 1997;194:135
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Article PDF
(144 KB)
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Château de Malmaison, 23 novembre, 1996, Paris, France
Journées dermatologiques de Paris
Dermatology 1997;194:40
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Article PDF
(150 KB)
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Japan, in the fall of 1996, in the month of October when the Gods leave their peaks and convene...
Dermatology 1996;193:323
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Article PDF
(119 KB)
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Island of Kos, September 2–8, 1996
The place of Hippocrates, venue of the 35th Congress of the International Society for the History of Medicine (ISHM)
Dermatology 1996;193:238
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Article PDF
(101 KB)
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Salzburg, at the Festival, July 30, 1996
Dermatology 1996;193:156
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Article PDF
(143 KB)
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Overhead Greenland aboard KL 681 en route to Vancouver and Dermatology 2000, May 28, 1996
An Interview with Our Editor-in-Chief
Dermatology 1996;193:35
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Article PDF
(109 KB)
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Xi'an, previously Chan'gan, Central China, March 25, 1996, Annunciation in Christian terms, i.e. New Year of medieval Europe
Dermatology 1996;192:300
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Article PDF
(107 KB)
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Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington, D.C., Sunday Sexuagesimae, February 11, 1996
The Second Winter Meeting of the Academy and the Demise of a Journal
Dermatology 1996;192:232
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Article PDF
(117 KB)
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Al-Bustan Hotel, Muscat, Oman, January 20, 1996; here: 1st of Ramadan 1416
Dermatology 1996;192:119
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Article PDF
(142KB)
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Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, South Pacific, September 19, 1995
Austria and the South Pacific
Dermatology 1996;192:45
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Article PDF
(133 KB)
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Vienna, 7 September 1995 at the Josephinum, Institute for the History of Medicine
A Library for the History of Dermatology
Dermatology 1995;191:317
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Article PDF
(139 KB)
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29 June 1995, St. Peter and St. Paul's Day, within the ruins of the Old Portuguese Fort, Malacca, Malaysia
Dermatology 1995;191:87
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Article PDF
(138 KB)
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Albergo All'Aquila d'Oro (Casa del Pellegrino) e Chiostro della Magnolia, Basilica del Santo, Padua, Italy, Sunday Iudica, 2 April 1995
Giovanni Alessandro (1728–1800) a altri Brambilla
Dermatology 1995;191:18
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Article PDF
(120 KB)
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Pasargadae, in the heart of the Persis, Iran – At the tomb of Kyros, 12 March 1995
Dermatology 1995;190:326
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Article PDF
(102 KB)
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At the Four-Corners Monument: Arizona / Utah / Colorado / New Mexico – The Ides of October 1994
A Five-Day Spell of Holiday
Dermatology 1995;190:316
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Article PDF
(123 KB)
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Hotel Obelisk, Istanbul, October 3, 1994
Dermatology 1995;190:250
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Article PDF
(97 KB)
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At home: The Old Vienna General Hospital (1693 and after), 29 September 1994, two years after moving out of dermatology
A pro tempore necrologue
Dermatology 1995;190:147
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Article PDF
(106 KB)
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Nôtre-Dame de Jérusalem, 14 juillet 1994
Dermatology 1995;190:18
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Article PDF
(110 KB)
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Hotel Atlantico, Parque Genovés, Càdiz, Spain, June 30, 1994
Dermatology 1994;189:414
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Article PDF
(111 KB)
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The Drake Hotel, Park Avenue, N.Y.C., May 18, 1994
Dermatology 1994;189:408
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Gérard de Nerval´s (Gérard Labrunie)
On the Occasion of his 192nd birthday PDF
Nerval was a reporter and a writer, son of a doctor, erstwhile medical student, a romanticist who travelled all over Europe and stayed in Vienna in semi-official function from November 1839 to March 1840.
He translated Goethe's Faust I,
edited a selection of German poems of Klopstock, Goethe, Schiller, he wrote an opera La Reine de Saba, he knew Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Eugène Delacroix, Honoré de Balzac, and many other contemporary French and German writers and poets. From 1831 on he used the nom de plume "de Nerval" related to an estate of his late mother.
His travels to the Orient must be seen in the context of other famous French travellers between Chateaubriand, Lamartine and Pierre Loti but with a strong romantic touch. He wanted to depict the world in a poetic way where his dreams may come true, mixing reality with phantasy. "J'aime à conduire ma vie comme un roman..." he wrote. When passing the island of Cyprus en route to the Levante he alluded to Poliphilus and Polia and their story of love and fancy (I may be permitted to state that there just appeared a new edition of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, facsimile and commentary, 2 vols, Milan 1998/99, exactly 500 years after the original edizione Aldina, Venice 1499). One of the first woodcuts of this oeuvre displays Poliphilus lost in a wood, reading "Poliphilo temendo el periculo del scuro bosco..." alluding to the Canto I of the "Commedia". Such an allusion by Nerval strengthens the role dreams played in his life and in his writings, important to any writer, "il sogno è un luogo oscillante fra terra e cielo, tra le affezioni corporee e sensibili, che obnubilano la visione, e le aspirazioni dell'anima dischiusa a conoscere e migrare, a vedere chiaramente l'intelligibile. Tra queste umane estremità si svolge il viaggo ..."
Nerval travelled to Egypt, to the Near East, to Turkey, throughout the year 1843, later to other parts of Europe repeatedly. This shall not be detailed here. He spoke of himself as voyageur enthusiaste and the Voyages en Orient, 2 vols, are the fruit of the above cruises.
He died in physical and mental misery, by his own hand, in the bitter cold night of January 25th 1855, in Paris and was laid to rest in Père Lachaise cemetery.
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Karl Holubar aka Nerval
The present author chose Nerval's name as a nom de plume for his medico-journalistic columns appearing in this journal since May 18th, 1994, the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the world's first dermatological society, the New York Dermatological Society.
Obviously the love for poetry, for languages, for the classical world of the Mediterranean, for travels in general, the proximity to medicine, Nerval's sympathy for Vienna ("les amours de Vienne"), his (and my) stay in the Orient, masonic ideas, ideas as regards denominations (vide infra), forays into the world of dreams, empathy for a complicated and convoluted mind, – these were the reason for the choice of pseudonym.
In Malta, at the end of 1843 he wrote. "Oui, je me suis senti païen en Grèce, musulman en Egypte, panthéiste au milieu des Druses et dévot sur les mers aux astres-dieux de la Chaldée; mais à Constantinople, j'ai compris la grandeur de cette tolérance universelle qu'exercent aujourd'hui les Turcs."
Did we progress since then? Malheureusement, no, we did not. On the contrary!
À la prochaine
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Karl Holubar
has compiled his anecdotal reports into a small hardcover book:
Off the Trodden Path
A Dermato-Historian's Narrative
It is available for EUR 30.– (+postage) directly from the author at
karl.holubar@meduniwien.ac.at
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