Paul Valery: An Anthology
by Paul Valéry
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James R. Lawler's elegant introduction deals with Valéry's concerns and his influence, and also with critical interpretations of his work. The volume begins with "The Evening with Monsieur Teste" (1896), from the famous "anti-novel" Monsieur Teste, for whose translation Jackson Mathews received the National Book Award in 1974. It includes such notable essays as the "Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci," "The Crisis of Mind," and "Poetry and Abstract Thought." The importance of show more Valéry's prose poetry has only recently been recognized, and a selection is presented here. There are also ten of his best-known poems in verse, among them "La Jeune Parque" and "Le Cimetiere Marin," with the French texts facing the English translations by David Paul. The anthology closes with two dialogues, one dating from the twenties, the other from 1943; which demonstrate the play of ideas--the intellectual vigor and grace--that are characteristic of Valéry's work as a whole. show lessTags
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This anthology, in addition to a selection of poems, includes essays, two dialogues, and two selections from Monsieur Teste. The essays are perhaps the most accessible of all the selections. But all of Valery's prose and poetry is stunning and warrants rereading to approach a basic level of understanding.
I was most fascinated with his essay on "The Method of Leonardo". As he put it, he attempted to "go beyond indiscriminate admiration", but it would seem at least in part a form of hubris to be too critical in the case of Leonardo. He struggles to encompass the mind of Leonardo and determine the balance between art and science.
In "The Crisis of the Mind", written in 1919 in response to the Great War we find Valery saying, "And we now show more see that the abyss of history is deep enough to hold us all. We are aware that a civilization has the same fragility as a life." (p 94) With observations of equal profundity and sufficient poetry to tantalize the reader, this is a volume to be recommended. show less
I was most fascinated with his essay on "The Method of Leonardo". As he put it, he attempted to "go beyond indiscriminate admiration", but it would seem at least in part a form of hubris to be too critical in the case of Leonardo. He struggles to encompass the mind of Leonardo and determine the balance between art and science.
In "The Crisis of the Mind", written in 1919 in response to the Great War we find Valery saying, "And we now show more see that the abyss of history is deep enough to hold us all. We are aware that a civilization has the same fragility as a life." (p 94) With observations of equal profundity and sufficient poetry to tantalize the reader, this is a volume to be recommended. show less
An impressive introduction to a fascinating thinker. Very heavy emphasis on self-analysis, but an extremely penetrating and insightful way. The poetry translations are lack-luster, but the original text is still there. Worth investigation.
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390+ Works 3,691 Members
Harry T. Moore has written in Twentieth Century French Literature to World War II: "Paul Valery, who published his most important verse between 1917 and 1922, is the greatest French poet the twentieth century has so far produced... .Few modern poets.. .have presented richer experience through their verses. Valery.. .could handle abstractions with show more a living and always poetic concreteness, and put them into comparable verse-music." He was also a critic and aesthetic theorist, interested in art, architecture, and mathematics. His skepticism, malice, and learning brought him both admiration and hostility. Valery had been a member of the Mallarme circle in the 1890s and wrote much symbolist poetry at that time, but an unhappy love affair caused him to fall poetically silent (he earned his living as a journalist) until Gide and others persuaded him, 20 years later, to publish some of his youthful work. He had thought to add a short new poem and instead wrote La Jeune Parque (The Young Fate) (1917), several hundred lines in length. It won him instant recognition in poetic circles. Several collections of his earlier poems were published in the 1920s, as well as the great Cimetiere Marin (Graveyard by the Sea), a powerful meditation on time and mortality. From then until his death in 1945, he wrote chiefly aesthetic theory, criticism, and an unfinished play about Faust. He helped to revive lively interest in the symbolists and had a pervading influence on French culture generally, though his poetry is not easy for the casual reader. His criticism and aesthetic theory had an important influence on the structuralist critics of the 1960s. He was elected to the French Academy in 1925. His Collected Works (1971--75) have been published in expert translations by the Bollingen Foundation. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Bollingen Series (45)
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- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Poetry, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 848.9 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French miscellaneous writings 1900-
- LCC
- PQ2643 .A26 .A23 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 1900-1960
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- (3.33)
- Languages
- English
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- Paper
- ISBNs
- 4
