Finally reaching the 19th century in my French reading and I'm not sure there was too many better ways to start with this classic Gothic short story by French romantic Théophile Gautier. La Morte amoureuse is the tale of a priest tempted from a life of monastic solace by a vision of a woman so beautiful and alluring he is unable to release himself from her spell - but as it turns out there's much more going on than it first appears. Gautier's writing style in this is florid and overpowering, a heady concoction that made me long for the kind of love depicted therein. Despite being an early precursor of its sort of fiction, La Morte amoureuse ends up subverting a lot of the expectations one would later carry into such a story, especially in its depiction of femme fatale Clarimonde who is really if anything the dark heroine of the piece in comparison to the drudgery and austerity of the priesthood and the weak will and double identity of Romaulde. Romantic with both a capital and a lowercase r, atmospheric and incredibly dreamy/subjective PoV in a manner that feels very ahead of its time, this might be my new favourite short work of fiction and I know I'll be going over it for some time in my head. ( )

A little on the slow side, but the overblown romantic language is a treat to get lost in. ( )

On the very day of his ordination, the young priest Romuald sees, and is instantly smitten by, a radiant young woman; the titular Clarimonde and beautiful vampire of various English translations.

Their story is told, decades later, by a now sixty-six year old Romuald, and avowedly sympathizes with his priestly vows and condemns Clarimonde as an infernal temptress. The reader is likely to be led to the opposite sympathy however, as Clarimonde appears to be perfectly sincere in her devotion to him - the original French title translates as "the dead woman in love", strengthening this interpretation.