Charles Robert Maturin et « l’école frénétique » de Nodier

In 1821 Charles Nodier coined the phrase école frénétique and designated Charles Robert Maturin as the master of this so-called school. What is frénétisme and to what extent does Maturin exemplify it? After highlighting the vagueness surrounding ­Nodier’s definition of frénétisme, this article shows that the latter is firstly a sort of pose. The article then details its aesthetics and insists on the moralism that judges it. The notion of dynamism ­contained in frénétisme ­conditioned Nodier in his interpretation of ­Maturin’s work.