La malinconia allo specchio

by Jean Starobinski, Daniela De Agostini (Translator), Yves Bonnefoy (Contributor)

Criticism of Baudelaire's poetry from the point of view of melancholy as an allegorical figure much used in his work, with images of paintings depicting this figure down time. Excellent psychological reading of the figure of the exile (Victor Hugo)in Baudelaire's famous poetry of the Swan and other works from the collection of Fleurs du Mal.

Genres: French Literature

79 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Jean Starobinski studied classical literature, and then medicine at the University of Geneva, and graduated from that school with a doctorate in letters (docteur ès lettres) and in medicine. He taught French literature at the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Basel and at the University of Geneva, where he also taught courses in the history of ideas and the history of medicine.

His existential and phenomenological literary criticism is sometimes grouped with the so-called "Geneva School". He has written landmark works on French literature of the 18th century – including works on the writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot, Voltaire – and also on authors of other periods (such as Michel de Montaigne). He has also written on contemporary poetry, art, and the problems of interpretation. His books have been translated in dozens of languages.

His knowledge of medicine and psychiatry brought him to study the history of melancholia (notably in the Trois Fureurs, 1974). He was the first scholar to publish work (in 1964) on Ferdinand de Saussure's study of anagrams.

Jean Starobinski is a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (a component of the Institut de France) and other French, European and American learned academies. He has honorary degrees (honoris causa) from numerous universities in Europe and America.

Reviews

[Elif Nuran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starobinski'nin Baudelaire şiirlerini melankoli ve spleen kavramı çerçevesinde analiz ettiği bir metin. Konuya ilgi duyanlar için güzel bir kitap. Ayrıca şiir analizlerinin içinde Freud, Marx, Ficino ve daha birçok ismin melankoliye dair düşüncelerine yer verilmiş; birçok ressamın eserleri ile metin zenginleştirilmiş.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Quando nella nostra percezione il reale non è in grado di valere come tale, diventa necessario dargli un secondo senso, per impedire la dissipazione di ogni senso, e l'intrusione del non senso." (p. 56)