The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

About this book

02 Not since the publication of Paul Austers The Random House Book of 20th Century French Poetry (1984) has there been a significant and widely read anthology of modern French poetry in the English-speaking world. Here for the first time is a comprehensive bilingual representation of French poetic achievement in the twentieth century from the turn-of-the-century poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire to the high modernist art of Samuel Beckett to the contemporary verse of scourge Michel Houellebecq. Many of the English translations (on facing pages) are justly celebrated composed by eminent figures such as T.S. Eliot Wallace Stevens and John Ashbery; many others are new and have been commissioned for this book.Distinguished scholar and editor Mary Ann Caws has chosen work by more than 100 poets. Her deliberately extensive international selection includes work by Francophone poets by writers better known for accomplishments in other genres (novelists songwriters performance artists) and by many more female poets than have typically been represented in past anthologies of modern French poetry. The editor has opted for a chronological organization that highlights six crucial pressure points in modern French poetry. Accompanying the selections are a general introduction informative essays on each period and short biographical notesall prepared by the editor.A monumental work that will serve as a point of reference for contemporary French studies for many years to come. Reaching beyond canonical works and authors it runs through culture at large with unsurpassed force and elegance. It will change the course of French studies.Tom Conley Harvard University Not since the publication of Paul Austers The Random House Book of 20th Century French Poetry (1984) has there been a significant and widely read anthology of modern French poetry in the English-speaking world. Here for the first time is a comprehensive bilingual representation of French poetic achievement in the twentieth century from the turn-of-the-century poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire to the high modernist art of Samuel Beckett to the contemporary verse of scourge Michel Houellebecq. Many of the English translations (on facing pages) are justly celebrated composed by eminent figures such as T.S. Eliot Wallace Stevens and John Ashbery; many others are new and have been commissioned for this book.Distinguished scholar and editor Mary Ann Caws has chosen work by more than 100 poets. Her deliberately extensive international selection includes work by Francophone poets by writers better known for accomplishments in other genres (novelists songwriters performance artists) and by many more female poets than have typically been represented in past anthologies of modern French poetry. The editor has opted for a chronological organization that highlights six crucial pressure points in modern French poetry. Accompanying the selections are a general introduction informative essays on each period and short biographical notesall prepared by the editor.A monumental work that will serve as a point of reference for contemporary French studies for many years to come. Reaching beyond canonical works and authors it runs through culture at large with unsurpassed force and elegance. It will change the course of French studies.Tom Conley Harvard University