Upon his death in 1898, the French Symbolist poet Stephane Mallarmé (b. 1842) left behind a body of published work which though modest in quantity was to have a seminal influence on subsequent poetry and aesthetic theory. He also enjoyed an unparalleled reputation for extending help and encouragement to those who sought him out. Rosemary Lloyd has produced a fascinating literary biography of the poet and his period, offering a subtle exploration of the mind and letters of one of the giants of modern European poetry.
Every Tuesday, from the late 1870s on, Mallarmé hosted gatherings that became famous as the "Mardis" and that were attended by a cross section of significant writers, artists, thinkers, and musicians in fin-de-siecle France, England, and Belgium. Through these gatherings and especially through a voluminous correspondence—eventually collected in eleven volumes—Mallarmé developed and recorded his friendships with Paul Valery, Andre Gide, Berthe Morisot, and many others. Attractively written and scrupulously documented, Mallarmé: The Poet and His Circle is unique in offering a biographical account of the poet's literary practice and aesthetics which centers on that correspondence.
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About Rosemary Lloyd
Reviews for Mallarme
French Forum
Lloyd's richly insightful study focuses on the way Mallarmé's correspondence with his friends and acquaintances (his circle) sheds light on the process of poetic composition.... Lloyd's style is elegant rather than artful, and the erudition of the author, while understated, is apparent on every page.
French Review
Rosemary Lloyd's book stands out among recent publications on Mallarmé for its readability and its intimate portrait of the poet in the context of his times.
The European Legacy
The book places Mallarmé within the blazing late-19th-century Parisian artistic ferment and offers credible looks at the origins of his endlessly complicated and beautiful work.
Publishers Weekly
This articulate literary biography... sheds new and important light on Mallarmé's own poems and essays.... An important addition to large public as well as scholarly collections,... this volume will be a sine qua non for any library supporting serious study in poetry, art, and music of late 19th-century France. Endnotes, a substantial bibliography, a useful index, and excellent print, paper, and binding add to the book's value.
Choice
Throughout her book Lloyd segues gracefully from the poet's life and milieu to his poems, always matched with her first-rate translations and subtle explications. While insisting on the everyday simplicity of Mallarmé's symbols (mirrors, sunsets, vases) she never tries to explain away the poems' irreducible complexity. This is biographical criticism of the highest order; it is also an absorbing portrait of a dazzling subculture.
Times Literary Supplement