Robert T. Denommé, who has written ex­tensively on French literature, here offers a companion volume to his Nineteenth­-Century French Romantic Poets, previ­ously published in this series. Once again working within an historical, philosophi­cal, and aesthetic context, he provides a wealth of critical insights for the general reader as well as the specialist. His first chapter surveys the evolution of poetic expression in France, and succeeding chapters study the major poets--Théophile Gautier, Théodore de Banville, Leconte de Lisle, and José-Maria de He­redia. Incisive and concise, the book provides a good general introduction to, and a long-overdue reassessment of, French Par­nassianism.

Claude Debussy’s exquisite piano works have captivated generations with their dreamlike atmosphere and mysterious soundscapes. Written in Paris at the height of the Belle Époque, the music creates a soundtrack for Parisians’ enjoyment of such delights as clowns, mermaids, eccentric dances, and the dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque explores how key works reflect not only the most appealing and innocent aspects of Paris but also more disquieting attitudes of the time such as racism, colonial domination, and nationalistic hostility. Debussy left no avenue unexplored, and his piano works present a sweeping overview of the passions, vices, and obsessions of the era. Pianist Catherine Kautsky reveals little-known elements of Parisian culture and weaves the music, the man, the city, and the era into an indissoluble whole. Her portrait will delight anyone who has ever been entranced by Debussy’s music or the city that inspired it.

A personal journey through the works of poets that most influenced Kinsella's work, resulting in a collection of "cover poems" Here, John Kinsella takes the work of poets from across the centuries writing in languages other than English, including French, Russian, German, Greek, Latin, and Chinese, and recreates the original works as translations, adaptations, and versions. In the case of 19th-century French poets, including Leconte de Lisle, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Charles Cros, there is close consideration of the traditional conventions of translation; Kinsella produces versions designed to capture the intent and design of the originals. However, with medieval poet Francois Villon, Kinsella has taken his "criminal jargon" poems and made radical departures into a play on contemporary "criminal" language. Using a vast array of interpretative techniques, Kinsella takes the reader from the intense animal poems of the Parnassian Leconte de Lisle, who spent much of his younger life on his birth island of Bourbon (La Reunion), through linguistically innovative remakings of Tristan Tzara's Dadaist poetry, to enigmatic investigations of the brilliant 20th-century poet of witness, fragmentation, and reconstitution of language, Paul Celan."

Originally published in 1947, this book presents a comprehensive study regarding the Poèmes barbares (1862) of Leconte de Lisle. Two key areas are explored: 'what attracted Leconte de Lisle to the history and mythology of the barbarian races, by what methods and in accordance with what ideas he transformed his material into poetry'. The text is organised in reflection of the different ethnic and tribal groups contained within the poems. Detailed notes are incorporated throughout and a bibliography is also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in French poetry and literary criticism.