The Cursed Poets

Assembled from articles published in French journals, the full version of The Cursed Poets (Les Poètes maudits) was published in 1888. Arthur Rimbaud, the boy with whom Paul Verlaine had had his infamous affair, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Verlaine himself need little introduction; figures such as Tristan Corbière and Jules Laforgue, a major influence on the poetry of T. S. Eliot, were lesser known at the time, but are now recognized as major figures. Marceline Desbordes-Valmore is still unknown outside the francophone world, though Goya painted her portrait and Stefan Zweig wrote a study of her. Villiers de l’Isle-Adam is an ultimate Symbolist, after whose drama Edmund Wilson titled his Axel’s Castle.

Chase Madar has translated The Exterminating Angel by Luis Buñuel and other works. He has published reviews in the London Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, and other publications. -- The Cursed Poet