Dioramic landscapes and the multi-temporality of places: The phantasmagorical writing of Pompeii in Théophile Gautier’s ‘Arria Marcella’ (1852) and ‘Jettatura’ (1856)1

This article highlights the possible influence of pre-cinematographic spectacles from the first half of the nineteenth century on the writing of Pompeii in two fantastique short stories by Théophile Gautier: ‘Arria Marcella’, published in 1852, and ‘Jettatura’, published in 1856. In a similar style to the dioramas of Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) and the phantasmagorias of Étienne-Gaspard Robertson (1763–1837), the movements of light resuscitate the dead city and its inhabitants. The description of Pompeii could evoke the pre-cinematographic technique of dissolving views, in which the images are projected one on top of the other. The intensity of one image gradually diminishes until it disappears completely, thereby creating the opportunity for the subsequent image to emerge with greater intensity. These dissolving views of Pompeii disrupt the spatio-temporal framework of the story because they allow us to move from one time to another. Ancient Pompeii and its buried beliefs emerge in the present, contributing to the narrative’s shift towards the fantastique , as a hitherto invisible world – superimposed on the visible world – makes itself increasingly felt and becomes spectrally visible.