“Off the main roads” Bypassing history in Charles Nodier’s early novels

This paper focuses on how Nodier’s early novels, which fall under the umbrella of intimate and sentimental literature, address the question of history in an oblique mode. In contrast to the historical novel, which is based on the recounting of positive facts, Nodier’s novels invite the reader to think negatively about history. The mobilization of the topics of the intimate and sentimental novel is correlated to the character’s perceived need to circumvent history.