This is the 1st new video of Mallarmé in a long time. So thank you. For me, his poems and essays have been quite inspirational. Proust was famously critical of Mallarmé, and I believe Mallarmé responded with his famous critique that the present crop of young writers can only read newspapers…or something to that affect. But I don’t agree that Proust like Tolstoy (who was completely flummoxed by Mallarmé) was a naturalist writer. Proust was definitely influenced by Symbolism. His metaphors are way too elaborate, like his elderly people in Time Regained, his tropes teeter on stilts.
I'm glad you liked the video. I know there was a conflict between naturalists and Symbolists, but I honestly don't know that much about it, so this is good further context. All that I've read of Proust is maybe excerpted sections or short stories from anthologies as an undergrad.
@@TheatreofPhil Well, you will certainly have a wonderful reading experience ahead of you. When I was a young writer in the early 1980s, there were certain classics that I pledged to read, as I'm sure you did. But I have often shied away from actually reading them. At the top of the list was Proust. But I held off for many years, well into my forties. I didn't have the stamina. But I finally got around to it, and of course he is worth it. Virginia Woolf read him and was both fascinated and intimidated, and ultimately depressed because he was so great.
As for dissonance in his poetry, is the intention to isolate words, and show them as objects, is where the reader comes to his conclusions? Words can have triple meanings, but in English, the words chosen are just meant to provoke?
I think there's some element of exploring words as objects in themselves, but also as tools for constructing larger symbols. In terms of the English language version, if you're asking about the politics of translation, I don't know this translator's process nor is my French good enough to read Mallarme's work in the original and reliably assess how good this translation is. Sorry.
@pilleater, I know there is this theory of dissonance in Mallarme's poetry, or this discussion of it. But I always find the writing rather mellifluous. There feels certainly frequently a disconnect between sound and sense in his poetry, but those ambiguities only enhance his work for me. You mention in your comment that it was Mallarme's "intention to isolate words, and show them as objects." My understanding of his poetics, is that he actually experimented with the relationships between words, particularly words that would not appear to naturally go together. He used this metaphor a number of time of stones placed side by side and how their juxtaposition would light up the otherwise hidden facets of meaning within the words.So perhaps because he would place words together in unusual ways, he was, or was he conjuring unknown or subtle meanings that had never been considered before.
This is the 1st new video of Mallarmé in a long time. So thank you. For me, his poems and essays have been quite inspirational. Proust was famously critical of Mallarmé, and I believe Mallarmé responded with his famous critique that the present crop of young writers can only read newspapers…or something to that affect. But I don’t agree that Proust like Tolstoy (who was completely flummoxed by Mallarmé) was a naturalist writer. Proust was definitely influenced by Symbolism. His metaphors are way too elaborate, like his elderly people in Time Regained, his tropes teeter on stilts.
I'm glad you liked the video.
I know there was a conflict between naturalists and Symbolists, but I honestly don't know that much about it, so this is good further context. All that I've read of Proust is maybe excerpted sections or short stories from anthologies as an undergrad.
@@TheatreofPhil Well, you will certainly have a wonderful reading experience ahead of you. When I was a young writer in the early 1980s, there were certain classics that I pledged to read, as I'm sure you did. But I have often shied away from actually reading them. At the top of the list was Proust. But I held off for many years, well into my forties. I didn't have the stamina. But I finally got around to it, and of course he is worth it. Virginia Woolf read him and was both fascinated and intimidated, and ultimately depressed because he was so great.
thank you ❤️
Good stuff...👍🏽
Thanks.
As for dissonance in his poetry, is the intention to isolate words, and show them as objects, is where the reader comes to his conclusions? Words can have triple meanings, but in English, the words chosen are just meant to provoke?
I think there's some element of exploring words as objects in themselves, but also as tools for constructing larger symbols.
In terms of the English language version, if you're asking about the politics of translation, I don't know this translator's process nor is my French good enough to read Mallarme's work in the original and reliably assess how good this translation is. Sorry.
@pilleater, I know there is this theory of dissonance in Mallarme's poetry, or this discussion of it. But I always find the writing rather mellifluous. There feels certainly frequently a disconnect between sound and sense in his poetry, but those ambiguities only enhance his work for me. You mention in your comment that it was Mallarme's "intention to isolate words, and show them as objects." My understanding of his poetics, is that he actually experimented with the relationships between words, particularly words that would not appear to naturally go together. He used this metaphor a number of time of stones placed side by side and how their juxtaposition would light up the otherwise hidden facets of meaning within the words.So perhaps because he would place words together in unusual ways, he was, or was he conjuring unknown or subtle meanings that had never been considered before.
What? You don't know how to pronounce Rimbaud?
In this video I've pronounced it the way I've heard it said by others. If you could let me know how it should be pronounced, I'd appreciate that.