Flemish School, Old Paris, & Night & Its Spells

by Aloysius Bertrand

Poetry. Translated from the French by Gian Lombardo. This book includes the first half of Bertrand's Gaspard of the Night: Fantasies in the Manner of Rembrandt and Callot (published in 1842), which is considered to be the first Western example of the modern prose poem. His work has been important for many French writers, from Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Mallarme to the Surrealists and writers of the present day. Constructed almost like a hall of mirrors, Bertrand used the character of Gaspard to render these vignettes. Written in the early 19th century, but mimicking life two, three and even four centuries before, the modern reader is presented with what a mirror does best: presenting both "sides" of an image--ugliness and beauty.

Genres: Poetry

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2000

About the author

Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand, better known by his pen name Aloysius Bertrand (20 April 1807 — 29 April 1841), was a French Romantic poet, playwright and journalist. He is famous for having introduced prose poetry in French literature, and is considered a forerunner of the Symbolist movement. His masterpiece is the collection of prose poems Gaspard de la Nuit published posthumously in 1842 (but probably mostly written already in 1827); though relatively ignored at the time, the book later had a huge influence on Charles Baudelaire's Spleen de Paris, the Symbolists and on the Surrealist movement. Three of its poems were adapted to an eponymous piano suite by Maurice Ravel in 1908.

Reviews

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good translation of the first three books of Bertrand's Gaspard of the Night, Lombardo has done a strong job making these pieces seem modern. I worried, at times, that he sacrificed some of the music other translations have managed. Still, it captures the narrative magic and brevity of the original.