Customer Reviews

Alcools (Athlone French Poets)

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Excellent collection of some of Apollinaire's best poetry from early in the 20th century=in French

took one look at the pos that arrived and went to amazon.fr to buy a gallimard version which, including shipping, cost ~ $29. minus shipping it was only ~6 euros (a bit over 8 bucks, compared to the $17 for this botched effort of publishing on demand). and that gallimard version includes the brief set of poems Le Bestiaire as well, with reproduced woodcuts by dufay. this book that i am ranting about -- i mean reviewing -- is horrific looking. the book is 7 7/8 x 10 inches, with poems only starting on odd numbered pages (which for some bizarre reason are on the left (verso) -- i tellya this book throws all publishing convention to the wind), so a short poem like "Automne" occupies the upper left corner of a broad two-page expanse of whiteness. There is a generic blurb on the back which says nothing specific to this book (it is sufficiently generic to apply to any "anthology" -- which alcools is not, anyway). The spine has nothing on it (no title or author). And of course the in only two spots where apollinaire's name appears, his prénom, as the frenchies say, is spelled "guillame". wth? i may have to hang on to this copy so i can take it out every few weeks and laugh at it.

if i were reviewing this for content i would have to give it several stars. guillaume apollinaire is a cool poet -- obscure of meaning, vivid and concrete and unadorned in his language and imagery. this book is -- except for the strange formulaic blurb -- completely in french and the poems are untranslated.