Yves Bonnefoy
Yves Bonnefoy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bonnefoy in 2004 | |
| Born | Yves Jean Bonnefoy 24 June 1923 Tours, France |
| Died | 1 July 2016 (aged 93) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Parent(s) | Marius Elie-Bonnefoy Hélène Maury |
Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923,
The Encyclopædia Britannica states that Bonnefoy was ″perhaps the most important French poet of the latter half of the 20th century.″[3]
Life and career
Bonnefoy was born in
Surrealists in Paris (a short-lived influence that is at its strongest in his first published work, Traité du pianiste (1946)). But it was with the highly personal Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de Douve (On the Motion and Immobility of Douve, 1953) that Bonnefoy found his voice and that his name first came to public notice.[6] Bonnefoy's style is remarkable for the deceptive simplicity of its vocabulary.[4][7]
Bonnefoy's work has been translated into English by, among others,
L'éphémère, a journal of art and literature
. Commenting on his work, Bonnefoy has said:
One should not call oneself a poet. It would be pretentious. It would mean that one has resolved the problems poetry presents. Poet is a word one can use when speaking of others, if one admires them sufficiently. If someone asks me what I do, I say I'm a critic, or a historian.[6][8]
He taught literature at a number of universities in Europe and in the USA:
Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he was made an honorary member of the Academy of the Humanities and Sciences.[9] In 1981, following the death of Roland Barthes, he was given the chair of comparative study of poetry at the Collège de France.[2]
Bonnefoy continued to work closely with painters throughout his career and wrote prefaces for artists’ books, including those by his friend Miklos Bokor.[10]
Bonnefoy died on 1 July 2016 at the age of 93 in Paris. President François Hollande stated of Bonnefoy on his death that he would be remembered for "elevating our language to its supreme degree of precision and beauty".[11]
Awards and honours
Bonnefoy was honoured with a number of prizes throughout his creative life. Early on he was awarded the Prix des Critiques in 1971. Ten years later, in 1981,
Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize.[12] He won the 2015 International Nonino Prize
in Italy.
Selected works in English translation
- 1968: On the Motion and Immobility of Douve. Translated by Galway Kinnell. (Ohio University Press: ASIN: B000ILHLXA) – poetry
- 1985: Poems: 1959-1975. Translated by ISBN 9780394533520) – poetry
- 1991: In the Shadow's Light. Translated by John Naughton. (University of Chicago Press: 9780226064482) – poetry
- 1991: Mythologies [2 Volumes]. Compiled by Yves Bonnefoy. Edited by
- 1993: Alberto Giacometti: A Biography of His Work. (ISBN 978-2080135124) – art criticism
- 1995: The Lure and the Truth of Painting: Selected Essays on Art. (University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226064444) – art criticism [3]
- 2004: Shakespeare and the French Poet. – essays on the role of the translator. (University of Chicago Press: ISBN 9780226064437)
- 2007: The Curved Planks. Translated by Hoyt Rogers. (ISBN 9780374530754). – poetry
- 2011: Second Simplicity: New Poetry and Prose, 1991-2011. Selected, translated, and with an introduction by Hoyt Rogers. (ISBN 978-0-300-17625-4). – poetry
- 2012: Beginning and End of the Snow [followed by Where the Arrow Falls]. Translated by ISBN 978-1611484588) – poetry
- 2013: The Present Hour; with an Introduction by ISBN 9780857421630) – poetry[14]
- 2014: The Digamma; with an introduction by Hoyt Rogers. Translated by Hoyt Rogers. (ISBN 978 0 8574 2 183 8). – poetry
- 2015: The Anchor's Long Chain; with an Introduction by Beverley Bie Brahic. (Seagull Books: ISBN 978-0857423023) – includes both poems and short stories[3]
- 2017: Together Still [followed by Perambulans in Noctem]; with an afterword by Hoyt Rogers. Translated by Hoyt Rogers with Mathilde Bonnefoy. (ISBN 978 0 8574 2 424 2). – poetry
Notes
- ^ a restructured translation of Dictionnaire des mythologies et des religions des sociétés traditionelles et du monde antique ("Dictionary of Mythologies and Religions of Traditional Societies and the Ancient World"). Compiled by Yves Bonnefoy and prepared under the direction of Wendy Doniger; translated by Gerald Honigsblum [and others]
References
- ^ a b "Dictionary of Art Historians - Yves Bonnefoy".
- ^ a b c d e "Yves Bonnefoy, Pre-Eminent French Poet, Dies at 93". The New York Times. 6 July 2016.
- ^ a b c The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (updated 3 July 2016) "Yves Bonnefoy - French author". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b c d "2011 – Yves Bonnefoy". Griffin Trust. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ISBN 9781857432176– via Google Books.
- ^ a b Shusha Guppy, "Yves Bonnefoy, The Art of Poetry No. 69", The Paris Review. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-226-56947-5. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ Harry Eyres, "The quest of a lifetime", Financial Times, 31 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ "CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences".
- ^ Vavasseur, Pierre. "Miklos Bokor, corps et âme". Paris, France: Le Parisien. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "Janus Pannonius Prize goes to Adonis and Yves Bonnefoy". Hungarian Literature Online. September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
- OCLC 22346848.
- ^ The Present Hour. The French List. University of Chicago Press.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yves Bonnefoy.
- Petri Liukkonen. "Yves Bonnefoy". Books and Writers.
- French Poetry since 1950: Tendencies I, by Jean-Michel Maulpoix, translated by Catherine Wieder
- Griffin Lifetime Recognition Award 2011 tribute (including video) Archived 2019-11-17 at the Wayback Machine
- CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences
- Laurea Honoris Causa, Teoria e Prassi della Traduzione, Università di Napoli "L'Orientale" (video)
- A Memorial Dossier honoring Yves Bonnefoy with contributions from Hoyt Rogers and Anthony Rudolf
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