3 Review(s)

This anthology captures the excitement of one of the most challenging developments in contemporary French writing, the new metaphysical poetry which has become an in?uential strand in recent French literature. It is a rigorously ontological poetry concerned with the very being of things, and with the nature of poetic language itself. This is not the only kind of poetry being written in France today, but it is an extremely signi?cant development, not only in French poetry, but also in French writing as a whole. Indeed, some of the writers included in this book, notably Edmond Jabes and Gerard Mace, have been in?uential in the subversion of conventional genres, by the play between poetry, narrative and essay, which has been an important aspect of recent French literature. This anthology brings together writers of different generations, from Gisele Prassinos and Joyce Mansour, through Jacques Dupin and Bernard Noel, to Frank-Andre Jamme and Andre Velter. It represents those who are major ?gures in France and already have some reputation in Britain and America, alongside writers who are still relatively unknown to English readers. Much of the poetry shows an af?nity with the work of Henri Michaux. The book also re?ects the range of poetry published by the innovative French imprint Editions Fata Morgana, as well as the lists of leading French publishers such as Gallimard, Editions du Seuil and Mercure de France.