The Cursed Poets

Assembled from articles published in French journals, the full version of The Cursed Poets ( Les Poètes maudits ) was first published in 1888.. Rimbaud, the boy with whom Verlaine had had his infamous affair, Mallarmé, and Verlaine himself need little introduction; figures such as Tristan Corbière and Jules Laforge, a major influence on the poetry of T.S. Eliot, were lesser known at the time, but are now recognized as major figures. Marceline Desbordes-Valmore is still unknown outside the francophone world, though Goya painted her portrait and Stefan Zweig wrote a study of her. Villiers de L'Isle-Adam is an ultimate Symbolist, after whose drama Edmund Wilson titled his Axel's Castle. The translator lives in New York City.