'Maternal Echoes' examines maternal imagery in the poetry of two French Romantic poets, the increasingly popular Desbordes-Valmore and the critically marginalized Lamartine. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories on the maternal voice as well as feminist criticism, the book argues that both poets find a voice of their own by echoing their mother's voice.
The richness and diversity of poetic voices in France since the mid-twentieth century sharpen the challenge of charting the poetic landscape in ways that are accessible and cohesive. Since poetry in France has long demonstrated a predisposition to philosophical questions. Palimpsests of the Real in Recent French Poetry reads the work of six poets through the lens of the Pre-Socratics. The poets discussed range from the well-known - Jacques Dupin, André du Bouchet, Eugène Guillevic - to the lesser celebrated - Jean-Louis Chrétien, Céline Zins, and Emmanuel Hocquard. What binds these six together is an interest in the real, and a fascination with the ways of sensing one's world, of experiencing time, unity, memory, and change. For each poet, the aesthetic character of the work takes precedence, and its presentation is informed by the philosophical groundwork laid by ancient thinkers. Written not only for specialists but also for students and all readers with a general interest in literature and poetry, this book provides introductory material to each poet considered as well as offers critical readings that never stray far from the poetic texts.
"Between 1880 and 1940, English responses to French poetry evolved from marginalised expressions of admiration associated with rebellion against the ""establishment"" to mainstream mutual exchange and appreciation. The translation of poetry underwent a simultaneous evolution, from attempts to produce definitive renderings to definitions of translation as an ongoing, generative process at the centre of literary debate. This study traces the impact of French poetry in England, via a wide range of translations by major poets of the time as well as renderings by now forgotten writers. It explores poetry and translations beyond the limits of the usual canon and identifies key moments of influence, from late 19th-century English homages to Victor Hugo as a liberal icon, to Ezra Pound re-interpreting Charles Baudelaire for the 20th century."
This critical monography brings to light the hidden movements and revealing thresholds of a poet devoted to exploring the frontiers between the world of nature and the hesitations of the individual consciousness.
Although the great French novelists of the last two centuries are widely read in America, there is a widespread notion that little of importance has happened in French literature since the heyday of Sartre, Camus, and the nouveau roman. Curious American readers seeking new, up-to-date information and analyses will find in Paths to Contemporary French Literature a stimulating and much-needed guide to the major currents of one of the worldas great literatures. This critical panorama of contemporary French literature introduces English-language readers to over fifty important writers and poets. Emphasizing authors who are admired by their peers (as opposed to those with overnight reputations), John Taylor offers a compelling insideras view.
"The thirteenth-century blossoming of religious literature aimed at the laity has traditionally been attributed to the Fourth Lateran Council and the canons it issued in 1215, but the Council, while a momentous event, took place during a long period of reform. This volume of nine essays aims to nuance the impact of the Council's doctrinal definitions and disciplinary rules on lay people, with a focus on England, where bishops enacted the Council's reforms with particular enthusiasm, and France, where the earliest instructional literature appeared. The first section of the volume treats either individual canons or events at the Council itself; the second section is devoted to literary texts and manuscripts."--
