This bilingual edition of the contemporary master's fifth work, Ce qui fut sans lumi, re, will delight, engage, and stir all lovers of poetry. Included here is an extensive new interview with the poet in English translation.
"Included here is a very helpful and touchingly personal interview with the poet. . . . For readers with no prior knowledge of Bonnefoy's work, this volume would be an excellent place to start." Stephen Romer, Times Literary Supplement"

Yves Bonnefoy, celebrated translator and critic, is widely considered the most important and influential French poet since World War II. Named to the College de France in 1981 to fill the chair left vacant by the death of Roland Barthes, Bonnefoy was the first poet honored in this way since Paul Valery. Winner of many awards, including the Prix Goncourt in 1987 and the Hudson Review's Bennett Award in 1988, he is the author of six critically acclaimed books of poetry.
Spanning four decades and drawing on all of Bonnefoy's major collections, this selection provides a comprehensive...

Comment participer a ce que la vie a de divin - si on ne croit plus en Dieu ? Comment lui donner une signification, si on la sent privee du fondement ontologique qui autrefois lui garantissait sa coherence? Que deviennent enfin l'esperance, et surtout la charite, dans un monde ou la foi ne semble plus praticable ? Voici les questions que ce livre propose d'aborder, en etudiant cinq reponses apportees par la poesie moderne a la crise metaphysique qu'elle se voit contrainte d'affronter. Celle de Baudelaire, dont le rapport a la tradition chretienne est reste profondement ambigu. Celle de...