Yves bonnefoy 1923624201671 was a french poet and essayist. Poet, art critic, historian, translator particularly of shakespeare, specialist in the problem of the relation of poetry to the visual arts and to the history of religions, bonnefoy is now considered one of the most distinguished men of letters of his generation. On the translation of form in poetry by yves bonnefoy. Bonnefoy was born in tours, indreetloire, the son of a railroad worker and a teacher. Yves bonnefoy, who died on july 1, has left the world an immense and varied oeuvre comprising poems, essays on art and esthetics, and translations from english and italian. By richard stamelman yves bonnefoys poetry opens to our view such long perspectives as philip larkin suggests. A crowd running under the rain beatingdown between the canvases the sea wind set clattering page. The poetics of adonis and yves bonnefoy by kareem james abuzeid a dissertation submitted in partial satisfation of the requirements for the degree of. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of william shakespeare which are considered among the best in french. Pdf the notion of presence in the poetics of yves bonnefoy. But it is perhaps his manner, in his poems, of mixing the sensuously earthy and the philosophical that will be most alluring for english readers. As a lyrical dedication to the places and moments which have been significant to bonnefoy in his search.
The significance and profundity of the work of yves bonnefoy in the realm of contemporary french letters can hardly be overstated in an. Yves bonnefoy author page at amazon, who died in july 2016, is often acclaimed as one of frances greatest poets. Bonnefoy argues that shakespeare finds his poetic voice after experimenting with the sonneta genre. The american side of frances greatest postwar poet the. Since 1953 yves bonnefoy has published, in addition to an earlier work he has subsequently preferred to forget, three volumes of poetry, a book on french. In an era when poetry is increasingly compressed to fit our iphone screens, nathaniel mackey has been writing two astonishing long poemsmu and song of the andoumboulouacross multiple books for the past thirtyfive years. Register now and publish your best poems or read and bookmark your favorite popular famous poems.
New and selected poems by yves bonnefoy, paperback. He studied mathematics, the history of science, and philosophy at both the university of poitiers and the sorbonne. Books by yves bonnefoy author of les planches courbes. Pierre ecrite, some of which is reprinted in carcanets dualtext collected poems, yves bonnefoy, 1.
Yves bonnefoy, selected prose works in translation loyola. The digamma is the latest book of poetry in prose by celebrated author yves bonnefoy, who is also a leading translator of shakespeare in france. Translated under the direction of wendy doniger by gerald honigsblum, danielle beauvais, teresa lavender fagan, dorothy figuiera, barry friedman, louise guiney, john leavitt, louise root, bruce sullivan, and david white. I didnt like the english translation by galway kinnell so i have improved it. Death, absence, nothingness, ruin, dispersion and errancy are events that his poems uncover in the common realities of a. Yves bonnefoy, le tout, le rienthe whole, the nothingness, trans. I began writing the lifesaving poems posts in may, 2011.
Yves bonnefoy was born in tours, france, on june 24, 1923. In yves bonnefoys remarkable poetic prose of le grand espace, concerning the louvre and its great space in all its complicationsof placing, maintaining, viewinghe cites one of poussins lessons, perhaps the most flavorful, offered by his autumn, in a room with the four seasons. After studying mathematics at the university of poitiers, the young poet moved to paris, where he came under. They delineate the separateness of the poetry of anguish, the bridge between. For decades readers and critics have acclaimed yves bonnefoy as frances greatest living poet. Bonnefoys own quest, over a lifetime he will be 90 next year of writing poems and essays and, not least, translating shakespeare, keats and yeats, has been to. Bonnefoys father was a railroad employee, his mother a teacher. Yves bonnefoy, who died earlier this month, at the age of ninetythree, is widely considered frances greatest poet of the past fifty years. Mu and song of the andoumboulou are two ongoing sequences beaded with his insights on cosmology, grief. Yves bonnefoy is the most important and influential french poet to have emerged since the second world war.
Yves bonnefoys numerous books include new and selected poems and in the shadows light, both published by the university of chicago press. Posts about yves bonnefoy written by anthony wilson. I would like to bring together, almost identify, poetry and hope. By yves bonnefoy five years ago, on 7 feb ruary 1974, joseph brodsky. The allegory of loss and exile in the poetry of yves bonnefoy. Yves bonnefoy, often acclaimed as one of frances most important living poets, has published eight major collections of verse, several books of tales, and numerous studies of literature and art.
From the beginning of his poetic career, yves bonnefoys work has sounded the note of a serious pursuit of the truths which language reveals. Bonnefoy was also a respected critic, scholar, and translator. Pdf the notion of presence is the cornerstone of bonnefoy s entire poetics, the common element linking his earliest pronouncements about poetry to his. The poetics of yves bonnefoy the act and the place of poetry. In 1943, after studying science and mathematics at the university of poitiers, he enrolled at the sorbonne and moved to paris, where he associated with the surrealist milieu. John naughton and richard stamelman, in new and selected poems, ed. Poet, translator, and respected critic of both literature and art, yves bonnefoy is widely acknowledged as the most significant and influential figure in contemporary french poetry. Yves bonnefoy born 24 june 1923 is a french poet and essayist. John naughton and anthony rudolf, chicago, 1995, 185187. His most recent book of verse, the curved planks, crowns an oeuvre that has won him the highest international honors.
His works have been of great importance in postwar french literature, at the same time poetic and theoretical. Yves bonnefoy is one of the most highly admired poets to reach maturity in france in the postworld war ii period, and many would identify him as the most important french poetintellectual at the. Memories seeped into their nightly dreams like boats in the mist that turn up their lamps a bit more. This essay explores his interpretations and translations of shakespeares plays and poems, informed by his own poetic vision, anchored in a literary tradition whose high points include baudelaire and rimbaud.
Poet, essayist, art and literary critic, translator and editor, yves bonnefoy sought throughout to make clear the ground on. In the first chapter, i trace, in very broad strokes, a spiritual arc across bonnefoys first three. Yves bonnefoy is a key figure in the french literary reception of shakespeare. In this collection, his fascination with the defining author of our language is amply reflected in god in hamlet and for a staging of othello, two poems in prose which belong to an ongoing series of meditations on the plays. Yves bonnefoys most popular book is les planches courbes. In praise of the curved planks farrar, straus and giroux, 2006. Yves bonnefoy and shakespeare as a french poet oxford. Yves bonnefoy, born june 24, 1923, tours, francedied july 1, 2016, paris, perhaps the most important french poet of the latter half of the 20th century. This month, the american publisher seagull books will release ursa major, a selection of bonnefoys late, multivoiced prose poems, in translation by beverley bie brahic.
Essays and criticism on yves bonnefoy critical essays. Poetics of yves bonnefoy 283 this bonnefoy tends summarily to evoke with the terms image or imaginaire, urging us to recognize, within ourselves, the contrary pulls of presence and a will to be, for being, that, for the poet, can only be satisfied by an act of. He is the author of ten major collections of verse, several books of tales, and numerous studies of literature and art, and was a celebrated translator of. Con yves bonnefoy il premio nonino celebra uno dei vertici della lirica contemporanea. Richard stamelman is director of the center for foreign languages, literatures, and cultures and professor of romance languages at williams college. His work has been translated into scores of languages, and he is a celebrated translator of shakespeare. Yves bonnefoy, celebrated translator and critic, is widely considered the most important and influential french poet since world war ii. That the fruit you have grown, which has been your work, which is going to grace the. Cerise press two translations from yves bonnefoys le. The title of yves bonnefoy s firstand extremely shortcollection of poetry reveals a central ontological preoccupation that never leaves bonnefoy s poetry. Pdf the notion of presence is the cornerstone of bonnefoys entire poetics, the common element linking his earliest pronouncements about poetry to his. Yves bonnefoy was born in tours, france to a railroad worker and a schoolteacher.
My first and second chapters focus on the work of yves bonnefoy. New poetry and prose, 19912011 yale university press, 2011. Yves bonnefoy in prague after winning the franz kafka prize in 2007. The eight essays of limprobable divided their focus equally between poetry and the visual arts. Yves jean bonnefoy 24 june 1923, tours 1 july 2016 paris was a french poet and art historian. He moved to paris in 1943 and was influenced by surrealist poets andre breton and george eluard. It is a poetry that refuses to close its eyes to those experiences of loss that identify temporal existence. The french poet yves bonnefoy 19232016 published major collections of poetry throughout his livetime. These translations of bonnefoy, the french poet and essayist born in 1923, interestingly differ from others in what is essentially a postheideggerian world. Publication date 1968 topics bonnefoy, yves publisher london, cape. Like so much of bonnefoys work, the collection calls upon the reader to inhabit fully the present moment, to dwell in the wonders of nature and the fullness of time.
Anti platon, or antiplato, a 9page collection or poem that he wrote in 1947. Yves bonnefoy, often acclaimed as one of frances most important living poets, has published nine major collections of verse, several books of tales, and numerous studies of literature and art. Yves bonnefoy poems poems of yves bonnefoy poem hunter. Yves bonnefoy has 185 books on goodreads with 4602 ratings.
Poet, essayist, art and literary critic, translator and editor, yves bonnefoy sought throughout to make clear the ground on which this hopefulness was to be built. Yves jean bonnefoy, poet and essayist, born 24 june 1923. Haiku, short verse and french poets original,french version. Widely considered frances most influential modern poet, yves bonnefoy was the author of over one hundred books of poems, essays, and criticism, including the poetry collection second simplicity. More than any other single work, this sequence embodies the. Critics note in bonnefoys work affinities with both the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century and.