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The Cursed Poets

Paul Verlaine

Translated from the French, with an Introduction by Chase Madar

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Assembled from articles published in French journals, the full version of The Cursed Poets (Les Poètes maudits) was first published in 1888. Arthur Rimbaud, the boy with whom Verlaine had had his infamous affair, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Verlaine himself need little introduction; figures such as Tristan Corbière and Jules Laforge, 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.

The translator lives in New York City.