From Olympio to the “voleur du feu” The Literary Heritage of Romanticism in the letter of May 15, 1871

In the society of the late 19th century, poets were commonly depicted as alienated from society. In the letter to Paul Demeny dated May 15, 1871, the figure of the tortured “voleur de feu” is taken from Romantic literature for alluding to this situation of the cursed poet. However, unlike the other poets, Rambaud tried to overcome the melancholy, without glorifying the poet’s greatness naively or locking himself into narcissism.