Selected Letters of Stéphane Mallarmé

Stéphane Mallarmé, 1842 - 1898 French poet Stéphane Mallarmé was born in Paris. His father and grandfather expected him to follow in the family tradition of French civil service but he didn't do well in school. Mallarmé began writing at a young age under the influence of Charles Baudelaire. After Mallarmé left school, he went to England and while there he got married. He was a schoolteacher from 1864 until his retirement in 1893. His first poems started appearing in magazines during the 1860's. He wrote his first important poem "L'Azur" and it was published when he was twenty-four years old. His most famous work is "L'Apres-Midi D'un Faune" (1865), and was inspired by Debussy's tone poem of the same name (1894) and illustrated by the famous painter Manet. Some of his other notable works are "Herodiade" (1896), and "Toast Funebre," which was written in memory of the author Theopile Gautier. Mallarmé spent his life putting his literary theories into practice by writing his Grand oeuvre (Great Work). On September 9, 1898, Mallarme died without completing this work. His experimental poem "Un Coup De Des" was published posthumously in 1914.

Rosemary Lloyd is affiliate professor at the University of Adelaide and the Rudy Professor Emerita at Indiana University. She is the author of many books, including Mallarmé: The Poet and His Circle, Baudelaire's World, and Shimmering in a Transformed Light: Writing the Still Life. nbsp;