Paul Valéry

The National Book Award–winning translation of Valéry’s singular novel, a strange and powerful philosophical exploration of human consciousness Paul Valéry was obsessed with exploring the conscious mind, and it was this preoccupation that produced the unusual masterpiece of modern fiction that is Monsieur Teste. Although not autobiographical in any usual sense, Valéry’s only novel is a profoundly personal book, a portrait of a character whose mind is shown in two aspects—detached from the senses and engaged in the events of everyday life. This volume also includes “Snapshots of Monsieur Teste"—passages from Valéry’s Notebooks that give a closer view of Teste. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

The National Book Award–winning translation of Valéry’s singular novel, a strange and powerful philosophical exploration of human consciousness Paul Valéry was obsessed with exploring the conscious mind, and it was this preoccupation that produced the unusual masterpiece of modern fiction that is Monsieur Teste. Although not autobiographical in any usual sense, Valéry’s only novel is a profoundly personal book, a portrait of a character whose mind is shown in two aspects—detached from the senses and engaged in the events of everyday life. This volume also includes “Snapshots of Monsieur Teste"—passages from Valéry’s Notebooks that give a closer view of Teste. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

An informal dialogue of ideas in which Valéry paints a witty portrait of himself Offhand, personal, and amusing, Paul Valéry’s Idée Fixe is an informal imaginative dialogue of ideas in which two men vacationing at the sea seek refuge from boredom by engaging in intellectual banter about human nature, the mind, and the haphazard relationship between humans and the world. Since the first-person speaker is unmistakably Valéry, the dialogue is perhaps more than anything else a wry self-portrait of a spare, dapper, and nervous figure whose feverish mind seldom allows him to rest—or anyone else to talk. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

An informal dialogue of ideas in which Valéry paints a witty portrait of himself Offhand, personal, and amusing, Paul Valéry’s Idée Fixe is an informal imaginative dialogue of ideas in which two men vacationing at the sea seek refuge from boredom by engaging in intellectual banter about human nature, the mind, and the haphazard relationship between humans and the world. Since the first-person speaker is unmistakably Valéry, the dialogue is perhaps more than anything else a wry self-portrait of a spare, dapper, and nervous figure whose feverish mind seldom allows him to rest—or anyone else to talk. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

A collection of Valéry’s dialogues, which are among his most important works of the imagination in prose Dialogues came naturally to Paul Valéry, providing the common ground between imagination and philosophy that he was always seeking. He called the dialogue “the most supple of the forms of expression,” saying that “I found I was talking to myself in two voices, and began to write accordingly.” This volume brings together all his formal imaginary dialogues, including two, Eupalinos and Dance and the Soul, which some consider to be the fullest and most characteristic expression of his genius. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

A collection of Valéry’s dialogues, which are among his most important works of the imagination in prose Dialogues came naturally to Paul Valéry, providing the common ground between imagination and philosophy that he was always seeking. He called the dialogue “the most supple of the forms of expression,” saying that “I found I was talking to myself in two voices, and began to write accordingly.” This volume brings together all his formal imaginary dialogues, including two, Eupalinos and Dance and the Soul, which some consider to be the fullest and most characteristic expression of his genius. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

Valéry’s complete writings for the theater This volume gathers all of Paul Valéry’s writings for the theater. It includes My Faust, Valéry’s last major work, which is composed of two unfinished Faust plays, Luste, or the Crystal Girl and The Only One. Plays also presents three allegorical verse plays that were written for music and performed at the Paris Opera: Amphion and Semiramis, with music by Arthur Honegger; and The Narcissus Cantata, with music by Germaine Tailleferre. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

Valéry’s complete writings for the theater This volume gathers all of Paul Valéry’s writings for the theater. It includes My Faust, Valéry’s last major work, which is composed of two unfinished Faust plays, Luste, or the Crystal Girl and The Only One. Plays also presents three allegorical verse plays that were written for music and performed at the Paris Opera: Amphion and Semiramis, with music by Arthur Honegger; and The Narcissus Cantata, with music by Germaine Tailleferre. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

A collection of Valéry’s prose poems Paul Valéry began writing poems in various forms of prose and free verse as early as 1892, with Pure Dramas, and continued to do so throughout his life, even during his so-called period of silence, when he had given up writing formal verse. This volume of Valéry’s prose poems includes some of his finest strokes of imagination (Broken Stories), some of his wittiest observations (Mixtures and Poems in the Rough), and even some of his greatest poems (Parables and The Angel), revealing that he was a master not only of traditional verse forms but of the modern prose poem. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

A collection of Valéry’s prose poems Paul Valéry began writing poems in various forms of prose and free verse as early as 1892, with Pure Dramas, and continued to do so throughout his life, even during his so-called period of silence, when he had given up writing formal verse. This volume of Valéry’s prose poems includes some of his finest strokes of imagination (Broken Stories), some of his wittiest observations (Mixtures and Poems in the Rough), and even some of his greatest poems (Parables and The Angel), revealing that he was a master not only of traditional verse forms but of the modern prose poem. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

An authoritative bilingual edition of the great French poet Paul Valéry was one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. This bilingual volume, which features the English translations facing the French texts, demonstrates the wide range of Valéry’s poetry, from lyric masterpieces such as “La Jeune Parque” and “Le Cimetière marin” to occasional and light verse written as letters to friends, dedications in books, and inscriptions on women’s fans. It also includes the autobiographical “Recollection,” and excerpts on poetry from Valéry’s notebooks. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

An authoritative bilingual edition of the great French poet Paul Valéry was one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. This bilingual volume, which features the English translations facing the French texts, demonstrates the wide range of Valéry’s poetry, from lyric masterpieces such as “La Jeune Parque” and “Le Cimetière marin” to occasional and light verse written as letters to friends, dedications in books, and inscriptions on women’s fans. It also includes the autobiographical “Recollection,” and excerpts on poetry from Valéry’s notebooks. The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new translations, the original French on facing pages for poetic works, and editorial notes.

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) var en av förra sek­lets viktigaste franska författare. Som ung ingick han i kretsen kring Stéphane Mallarmé och blev 1925 invald i Franska akademien. Hans författarskap omfattar många genrer (poesi, dramatik, berättelser, filosofiska dialoger, essäer) och från tjugotalets mitt var han en intellektuell institution inte bara i Frankrike utan i hela Europa. Den rena och tillämpade an-arkins grund­ satser är en samling anteckningar som Valéry gjorde under 1930-talets slut. De berör inte bara politik i allmänhet, dess specifika väsen och problem, utan också dess verkan på den enskilda människan. Texten bär Valérys signum, den är förtätad och lapidarisk, utmanande och provocerande. Författaren Horace Engdahl har översatt och försett boken med ett förord.

A defining work of twentieth-century modernism, now newly translated--a philosophical novel about the nature of consciousness, all centered around a character who is composed of absolute brain and intellect, a character of pure mind. In 1892, during an intense thunderstorm, the great Symbolist poet Paul Val ry underwent an existential crisis. For the next twenty years, he wrote no poetry, devoting himself instead to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and language--and to the creation of his literary alter ego, Monsieur Teste, who first appeared in the 1896 novella The Evening with Monsieur Teste, and about whom Val ry continued to write for the rest of his life. Middle-aged Monsieur Teste lives on modest speculations on the stock market. He resides in a greenish room smelling of mint, takes a daily stroll with his wife, and would be entirely unremarkable, were it not for the fact that he is a being made up of pure consciousness, a Cartesian creature of pure rationality, intellect, and self-control. Teste is old French for "head," and detached from senses and emotions, Monsieur Teste feels skepticism for all received wisdom while also refusing to hold any opinions of his own. What would such a man make of his own thought processes? And what would he make of human relationships and the world? Standing in counterpoint to Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities, Monsieur Teste is without a doubt one of the most enigmatic and searching manifestations of the modern imagination. A genre-defying exploration of the nature of language and consciousness, Val ry's full body of writings on Monsieur Teste is presented here in a stunning new translation by Charlotte Mandell.