Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) is one of the giants of nineteenth-century
French poetry. Leader of the Symbolist movement, he exerted a powerful
influence on modern literature and thought, which can be traced in the
works of Paul Valéry, W.B. Yeats, and Jacques Derrida. From his early
twenties until the time of his death, Mallarmé produced poems of
astonishing originality and beauty, many of which have become
classics.
In the Collected Poems, Henry Weinfield brings the oeuvre of this
European master to life for an English-speaking audience, essentially
for the first time. All the poems that the author chose to retain are
here, superbly rendered by Weinfield in a translation that comes
remarkably close to Mallarmé's own voice. Weinfield conveys not simply
the meaning but the spirit and music of the French originals, which
appear en face.
Whether writing in verse or prose, or inventing an altogether new
genre--as he did in the amazing "Coup de Dés"--Mallarmé was a poet of
both supreme artistry and great difficulty. To illuminate Mallarmé's
poetry for twentieth-century readers, Weinfield provides an extensive
commentary that is itself an important work of criticism. He sets each
poem in the context of the work as a whole and defines the poems' major
symbols. Also included are an introduction and a bibliography.
Publication of this collection is a major literary event in the
English-speaking world: here at last is the work of a major figure,
masterfully translated.
