Book cover of The Arriere-Pays

Book description

Since the publication of his first book in 1953, Yves Bonnefoy has become one of the most important French poets of the postwar years. At last, we have the long-awaited English translation of his celebrated work "L'Arriere-Pays", which takes us to the heart of his creative process and to the…


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Why read it?

1 author picked The Arriere-Pays as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When I first visited Paris in 1977, I found a second-hand copy of Yves Bonnefoy’s dreamlike meditation on his life, his passion for the visual arts, his lyrical evocations of landscape, and his temptations to eschew the sensual world.

I was transported when I read it in French and thrilled to see it appear in English. Years after I read it, I received a warm letter from Bonnefoy, who had been reading my poems.

We met; we became friends, and I am thankful to this book for introducing him to me, and for the many happy hours we spent talking…

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