Review by Choice Review
American students of modern French literature generally prefer to study the novel or theater, rather than poetry. This is especially true of undergraduates. Since the triumph of modernism, poetry (like art and music) is often seen as difficult to understand, and therefore to appreciate. The present study is a powerful, useful, and effective antidote to this condition, for it uses several linguistic concepts, combined with close readings and explications, to explain what free verse is, how it came to be developed, and how it functions. It focuses on works from the period 1910-30 but reaches back to the origins of free verse in the late 19th century to make its case. It is especially useful in resurrecting and making accessible the poetry of Blaise Cendrars, who is not as widely read in the English-speaking world as the other poets studied here--Saint-John Perse, Apollinaire, Supervielle, and Reverdy. In a day when university presses still largely shy away from publishing books that can be read by nonspecialists, this study is a delightful surprise. Rigorously intelligent and clearly argued, it is a work that every college library should own. D. O'Connell; Georgia State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
