FROM THE PUBLISHER

Upon his death in 1898, the French Symbolist poet Stephane Mallarme 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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

More a book about the poet and his correspondents than his immediate literary circle, this study focuses on how Mallarme (1842-1898) used his letters to try out ideas and lines. Lloyd, an Indiana Univ. professor of French and Italian, edited Mallarm 's selected letters in 1988, and contextualizes the letters she analyzes here with the major events in the poet's life. As the book develops, and Mallarme escapes uncongenial teaching in the provinces and settles in Paris, Lloyd deals more with his relationships in the flesh, largely through his Tuesday at-homes (his Mardis) where intellectuals gathered and exchanged literary, artistic and even musical gossip. Among his friends were Manet, Debussy, Whistler and Degas, along with his poetic muse, Mery Laurent. (Lloyd unconvincingly speculates at length as to the exact nature of their relationship, and elsewhere apologizes for Mallarme's seeming indifference to Zola's fate during Zola's "J'accuse" trial.) While not a replacement for Gordon Millan's 1994 biography (or the untranslated Henri Mondor life), or for the letters themselves, the book places Mallarme within the blazing late-19th-century Parisian artistic ferment and offers credible looks at the origins of his endlessly complicated and beautiful work. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Although not a particularly prolific poet--judging by the body of his known and published work--Mallarm had an immeasurable influence on poetry in the latter half of the 19th century and thereafter. Along with Andr Gide, Paul Val ry, and Marcel Proust, he was associated with a group of writers who helped give shape to 20th-century French literature. In this authoritative and thoroughly researched literary biography, Lloyd (French and Italian, Indiana Univ.) presents a fairly comprehensive portrait of the poet, based on his own work--which he left unfinished when he died in 1898--his correspondence, and a body of contemporary and later interpretations and criticism. She specifically considers letters between Mallarm and his artist and poet friends and between him and total strangers. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries, especially those with collections of modern and French literatures.--Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Daniel R. Madar - Times Literary Supplement