Reading Apollinaire's Alcools

"Reviewing the previous scholarship for seventeen of the most important poems in Alcools, Reading Apollinaire's Alcools provides a detailed analysis of each work and includes a state-of-the-art survey of current Apollinaire criticism. Besides acquainting readers with the existing scholarship, this book considers all the interpretations that have been proposed and indicates useful directions to pursue. Each poem is subjected to a rigorous, line-by-line analysis that engages in a succession of dialogues with previous critics. The studies themselves are arranged in roughly chronological order, beginning with the "Rhénanes" in 1901-1902 and concluding with "Zone" in 1912. Although each chapter is basically conceived as an independent unit, readers will be able to follow the evolution of Apollinaire’s aesthetics from his first mature creations through his subsequent experiments with fantastic, hermetic, visionary, and cubist poetry. At the same time, they will witness Apollinaire’s personal evolution from his infatuation with Annie Playden through a period of deep depression, his love affair with Marie Laurencin, and the aftermath of that relationship."--Page 4 of cover.