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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

364 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

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About the author

Paul Valéry

614 books475 followers
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry (October 30, 1871 - July 20, 1945 ) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher.

His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath. In addition to his fiction (poetry, drama and dialogues), he also wrote many essays and aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events.

Valéry is best known as a poet, and is sometimes considered to be the last of the French Symbolists. But he published fewer than a hundred poems, and none that drew much attention. On the night of 4 October 1892, during a heavy storm, Paul Valéry entered an existential crisis, which made a big impact on his writing career. Around 1898, his writing activity even came to a near-standstill, due partly to the death of his mentor Stéphane Mallarmé and for nearly twenty years from that time on, Valery did not publish a single word until 1917, when he finally broke this 'Great Silence' with the publication of La Jeune Parque at forty-six years of age. This obscure but superbly musical masterpiece, of 512 alexandrine lines in rhyming pairs, had taken him four years to complete, and immediately secured his fame. It is esteemed by many in France as the greatest French poem of the 20th century.

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5 stars
22 (44%)
4 stars
13 (26%)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Murat Acar.
Author 1 book172 followers
January 20, 2014
"il faut être léger comme l’oiseau, et non comme la plume"

"kuş gibi hafif olmak gerek, tüy gibi değil" Paul Valéry
Profile Image for Abdou Ksb.
94 reviews8 followers
January 4, 2019
It was my very first read of 2019 (I had decided to read Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse but the New Year's Eve drained me of my ability to successfully follow a stream of consciousness). And I really enjoyed it (it even gave me some energy back!).

It consists of a very pleasant succession of thoughts - and Paul Valéry sure knew how to write. As a good poet does, his sentences are carefully constructed and he makes sure that the words he uses are the most suited to highlight, in the best possible way, his thoughts.

(Reading the "Inscriptions sur la mer" part in front of the ocean caused me pure delight. Books are truly a wonder).

Looking forward to reading his poems now.

5/5.
11 reviews2 followers
July 11, 2020
Ok. On ne cote pas ce genre de livre. Ceci dit, je me joins à la terrible comédie de Goodreads : je donne 5/5 et je dis : médite, bon lecteur, chacune des réflexions de Valéry.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews