Books in the Collected Works of Paul Valery series

James R. Lawler's elegant introduction deals with Valéry's concerns and his influence, and also with critical interpretations of his work. The volume begins with "The Evening with Monsieur Teste" (1896), from the famous "anti-novel" Monsieur Teste, for whose translation Jackson Mathews received the National Book Award in 1974. It includes such notable essays as the "Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci," "The Crisis of Mind," and "Poetry and Abstract Thought."The importance of Valéry's prose poetry has only recently been recognized, and a selection is presented here. There are also ten of his best-known poems in verse, among them "La Jeune Parque" and "Le Cimetiere Marin," with the French texts facing the English translations by David Paul. The anthology closes with two dialogues, one dating from the twenties, the other from 1943; which demonstrate the play of ideas--the intellectual vigor and grace--that are characteristic of Valéry's work as a whole.

Valery's dialogues are considered his most important works of imagination in prose. This title brings together all the formal dialogues, including Eupalinos and six other pieces.

A novel that reflects the author's preoccupation with the phenomenon of a mind detached from sensibility, yet he is also an ordinary fictional character.

All of author's major meditations on the theory and practice of poetry are included in this volume. He focuses his attention on the deliberate formal work that transforms the dream into the poem, in his own poems, as well as in analyses of La Fontaine, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, the Symbolists, Mallarme, Rimbaud, and others.

Essays discuss issues in twentieth century politics.