S. Whidden, Leaving Parnassus. The Lyric Subject in Verlaine and Rimbaud.

Compte-rendu dans la revue Acta fabula:  Le je est à réinventer, par Denis Saint-Amand.

Seth Whidden

Leaving Parnassus. The Lyric Subject in Verlaine and Rimbaud.

Rodopi

Coll. Faux Titre 296

Amsterdam/New York, NY 2007. 230 pp.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2210-2 (Paperback)

Leaving Parnassus: The Lyric Subject in Verlaine and Rimbaud considers how the crisis of the lyric subject in the middle of the nineteenth century in France is a direct response to the aesthetic principles of Parnassian poetry, which dominated the second half of the century much more than critics often think. The poets considered here rebel against the strict confines of traditional and contemporary poetry and attempt to create radically new discursive practices. Specifically, the close readings of poems apply recent studies of subjectivity in poetry and focus on the works of Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud to see how each subverts the dominant tradition of French poetry in a unique way. Whereas previous studies considered isolated aspects of each poet's lyric subject, Leaving Parnassus shows that the situation of the lyric is a source of subversion throughout the poets' entire work, and as such it is crucial to our full understanding of their respective innovations.

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Dominance of Parnassian Poetry
Chapter Two: Verlaine's Identities
Chapter Three: Rimbaud, Beyond Time and Space
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index