The Mesmerist

Family dramas, forbidden loves, murders and betrayals, are all present in The Mesmerist (1834) a breathtaking tale of dark romanticism, a genre in which Frédéric Soulié was a master.

The action takes place in 1787. Charlotte-Diane de l'Étang, Duchess of Avarenne, is in disgrace, condemned to live in boredom in her country estate. She then learns of the hypnotic experiments of young Doctor Lussay, and of Louise, whose behavior after undergoing the doctor's treatment, worries her fiancé, Jean d'Aspert. Intrigued, then attracted, the Duchess starts an affair with Jean. The storm of the Revolution passes, as do the Napoleonic Wars... Jean, now a general, rescues the Duchess, who has moved to Rome, and learns that he is the father of her child...

Hypnotism, then called "Mesmerism" after Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), a Viennese physician who practiced in France between 1778 and 1785, enjoying immense success, was a recurring theme in 19th-century fantasy literature. A Mesmerist was often portrayed as a dark character using his powers to control others for suspicious purposes, often sexual in nature. In this gripping tale of love and betrayed paternity, Frédéric Soulié, the pioneer and undisputed virtuoso of the 19th-century gothic novel, brings in not one but two Mesmerists, the learned Dr. Lussay and the Baron de Prémitz, a mysterious and darker figure.