Marges du premier Verlaine by Steve Murphy (review)
2004; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 99; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2004.a826667
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Tópico(s)French Literature and Poetry
ResumoMLRy 99.4, 2004 1055 many points of comparison between their compositions of this period; 'Michel et Christine', for instance, is read as a parody of 'Malines' (pp. 40-45). Refreshingly, the oft-repeated idee recue of an inherent musicality in the vers impair is soundly refuted , and Murphy avoids the usual musical and pictural cliches in his commentaries, which explore in detail the numerous epigraphs and possible intertextual references in both French and English verse. Another of this volume's many strengths is the com? prehensive survey of Verlainian criticism, as Murphy presents various biographical interpretations ofeach poem while navigating a sensible middle course between them. University College Dublin David Evans Marges du premier Verlaine. By Steve Murphy. Paris: Champion. 2003. 422 pp. ?70. ISBN 2-7453-0866-1. Focusing mostly on the pre-Rimbaud years, Steve Murphy turns our attention from the well-worn themes of impressionism, musicality, leflou, and le vague, towards 'un poete de la force' (p. 11), the socially and politically engage Verlaine of Les Vaincus, a volume in preparation from 1869 but eventually abandoned in 1873. The firstof three sections examines Verlaine's early passage from the influence of Hugo (with 'La Mort' read as a critique ofthe Second Empire) to that of Baudelaire, forhis insistence on Art's ideological autonomy and bold formal irregularities. Through subtle and sensitive readings of 'Apres trois ans' and 'Nevermore', Murphy situates Verlaine on the margins of both the famous Parnassian impassibilite and a certain post-Romantic melancholy which abandons the model of direct expression by the writing subject. The second section explores Verlaine's poetry of the sexual, social, and political margins, coining the term 'parapoesie' to designate such satirical or parodic texts, often written under threat of censorship, as the Album zutique, or the previously un? published homosexual sonnets 'Cesar Borgia' and 'Henri III', both included here. Analysis of these texts and new readings ofcanonical poems reveal a stimulating 'jeu de cache-cache ou le sujet desirant s'exhibe, mais camoufle dans l'alterite de discours qui ne lui ressemblent pas ou qui ressemblent trop a d'autres textes' (p. 167). In the third section, Murphy analyses the disintegration ofthe Parnassian movement via a number ofparodies?notably ofCoppee, whose 'Benediction' is parodiedin 'Le grognard', the original version of 'Le soldat laboureur'. Murphy has a particularly keen eye for in? tertextual references, demonstrating how they come in and out of focus during a text's numerous modifications, such as the political references to Hugo underlying the republican sympathies of 'Les loups', which disappear in 1884 along with the epigraph. The historical angle of Murphy's work on Rimbaud also features, with studies of satirical illustrations, political divisions among the Parnassians, relationships between the zutistes, Verlaine, and republican exiles, and various literary and political reviews. Murphy's familiarity with recent versificatory criticism provides inventive readings of many texts, including a comparative study of Verlaine and Coppee. Interesting questions are also asked of most editors' preference fortexts published in book rather than review form, or for later rather than earlier versions, with the original version of 'Monsieur Prudhomme' used to show how illuminating contextual reference may be lost. Although, as Murphy himself suggests in his introduction, this monograph resembles a collection of articles, a series of footnotes to the margins of Verlaine's early work, the valuable new light it sheds on previously marginal texts provides a welcome shiftin focus away from the standard critical preoccupations. University College Dublin David Evans ...
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