Poetry
Alcools
Guillaume Apollinaire · 1913
Synopsis
About fifty poems written over some fifteen years and published without any punctuation. The first, Zone, written last and placed at the head, follows the poet on a wander through Paris in the early morning. Then come La Chanson du mal-aimé, on a love lost in London, the cycle of the Rhénanes, born of a stay in Germany, Les Colchiques and Le Pont Mirabeau.
Context
The collection was at first to be called Eau de vie, and the author also considered Le Vent du Rhin. It was on the proofs, in autumn 1912, that he settled on the final title, added two poems, including Zone, which he placed at the head, and removed all punctuation, the rhythm and the line breaks being, in his view, enough to take its place. The volume was published by the Mercure de France in April 1913, in no chronological order, and mixes regular verse and free verse.
Who it is for
A book to be read out of sequence. The absence of punctuation forces readers to find the pauses themselves, which is disorienting for a page or two and no longer troubles after that.
Prizes and reception
Ranked in 1999 among the hundred books of the century, the collection has appeared in English under its title, translated by Anne Hyde Greet and then by Donald Revell.
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