What do you think?
Rate this book
The Path of Amour
Marie Krysinska (1857-1908), the inventor of vers libre, has long been overlooked, despite her important contribution to French letters. In this, the first volume of her work ever to be offered in English, in a splendid translation by Brian Stableford, two very different, and complimentary, selections of her prose are offered.
The first is a complete translation of Amour Chimine, her single collection of short stories, which was originally published in 1892 and is an example of her more commercial work, fitting the conventions established by prolific producers of short fiction for newspapers such as Catulle Mendès and Octave Mirbeau.
In the second section, the reader is presented with a selection of forty-four never-before-collected prose poems and vignettes which the author published in periodicals between 1883 and 1900, mostly in the pioneering feminist newspaper La Fronde, which was edited and entirely written by women. These pieces, genuinely experimental in their terse and minimalistic narrative construction--or, in some instances, their deliberate lack of narrative construction--and often endowed with an effectively quirky wit, helped pioneer a new area of literary activity carried out by women with a female audience in mind.
Krysinska's partial eclipse from "official" literary history is nowadays seen--accurately--as a monumental example of sexist injustice. With the present volume, it is hoped that her important contribution to the history of French Symbolism will become more accurately recognized and celebrated.
The first is a complete translation of Amour Chimine, her single collection of short stories, which was originally published in 1892 and is an example of her more commercial work, fitting the conventions established by prolific producers of short fiction for newspapers such as Catulle Mendès and Octave Mirbeau.
In the second section, the reader is presented with a selection of forty-four never-before-collected prose poems and vignettes which the author published in periodicals between 1883 and 1900, mostly in the pioneering feminist newspaper La Fronde, which was edited and entirely written by women. These pieces, genuinely experimental in their terse and minimalistic narrative construction--or, in some instances, their deliberate lack of narrative construction--and often endowed with an effectively quirky wit, helped pioneer a new area of literary activity carried out by women with a female audience in mind.
Krysinska's partial eclipse from "official" literary history is nowadays seen--accurately--as a monumental example of sexist injustice. With the present volume, it is hoped that her important contribution to the history of French Symbolism will become more accurately recognized and celebrated.
286 pages, Paperback
Published March 9, 2020
15 people want to read
About the author
Marie Krysińska
14 books1 followerMaria Anastasia Krysińska (Warsaw, 22 January 1857 - Paris, 15 September 1908) was a Polish-French symbolist poet, novelist, and musician
Born to a lawyer, Ksawery Jan Teodor Krysiński and his wife Amelia Maria Wołowska, Marie Krysinska left her native Warsaw when she was sixteen to study at the Conservatoire de Paris, however she abandoned her studies shortly after her arrival in Paris to pursue a more bohemian lifestyle.
She became a pianist at the cabaret Le Chat Noir, where she would also recite some of her poetry.
During her time in Paris, Krysinska became an active member of a variety of creative and literary circles of the time, including the "Hirsutes," "Jemenfoutistes," "Zutistes" and "les Hydropathes" of which she was the only female member.
Starting in 1882 she began to publish some of her original work in La revue du chat noir and La revue indépendente. In 1890 she published her first collection of poetry, Rythmes pittoresques, followed by a collection of prose pieces, L'Amour chemine in 1892. Two years later she published her second collection of poetry, Joies errantes. She continued to publish even more novels, poems, and articles throughout her life.
Although conventionally the innovation of free verse poetry is attributed to other 19th century french poets such as Gustave Kahn and Jules Laforgue, Marie Krysinska actually published free verse poetry in 1882, five years before other volumes featuring free verse poetry would appear in 1887 giving her a more authentic claim to the title 'innovator of free verse'.[4] Regardless, it is important to note both Krysinska's role in the innovation of free verse poetry, and her erasure from its history.
Born to a lawyer, Ksawery Jan Teodor Krysiński and his wife Amelia Maria Wołowska, Marie Krysinska left her native Warsaw when she was sixteen to study at the Conservatoire de Paris, however she abandoned her studies shortly after her arrival in Paris to pursue a more bohemian lifestyle.
She became a pianist at the cabaret Le Chat Noir, where she would also recite some of her poetry.
During her time in Paris, Krysinska became an active member of a variety of creative and literary circles of the time, including the "Hirsutes," "Jemenfoutistes," "Zutistes" and "les Hydropathes" of which she was the only female member.
Starting in 1882 she began to publish some of her original work in La revue du chat noir and La revue indépendente. In 1890 she published her first collection of poetry, Rythmes pittoresques, followed by a collection of prose pieces, L'Amour chemine in 1892. Two years later she published her second collection of poetry, Joies errantes. She continued to publish even more novels, poems, and articles throughout her life.
Although conventionally the innovation of free verse poetry is attributed to other 19th century french poets such as Gustave Kahn and Jules Laforgue, Marie Krysinska actually published free verse poetry in 1882, five years before other volumes featuring free verse poetry would appear in 1887 giving her a more authentic claim to the title 'innovator of free verse'.[4] Regardless, it is important to note both Krysinska's role in the innovation of free verse poetry, and her erasure from its history.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Want to read
April 14, 2020Marie Krysinska (1857-1908) was a Symbolist poet, novelist, and musician. She was born in Warsaw, Poland, and went to Paris at the age of sixteen to study musical composition at the Conservatoire. An important pioneer of vers libre, and rightly regarded as its inventor, she published three volumes of verse, Rythmes pittoresques (1890), Joies errantes (1894), and Intermèdes, nouveaux rythmes pittoresques (1903). She further published the short story collection L’Amour chemine (1892), and the novel La Force du désir (1905).
this hardcover is limited to 70 copies.
this hardcover is limited to 70 copies.
Displaying 1 of 1 review