L’arabesque dans Stello

The critic, Armand de Pontmartin, wrote that “M. de Vigny put the finishing touches to Stello with delicate arabesques.” It is an unclassifiable work that resists generic categories and is shot through with the figure of the arabesque—which, according to Pierre Schoentjes, is “one of the figures linked with irony since Romanticism.” Related to witz, defined by Schlegel, irony works in a detached and playful way to encourage spiritual reflection.