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What was French Symbolism?

When:
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

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The 19th-century poetic movement known as Symbolism had a profound influence on the modern arts, from the music of Claude Debussy to the poetry of T.S. Eliot and even the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. But just what doctrines and styles did Symbolism involve? Expert on French literary history Damian Catani will be in conversation with Joseph Brooker, looking to understand Symbolist poems and ideas. The session will consider poems by Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Rimbaud both in the original French and in English translations, and cover themes like modernity, war, cross-channel connections, and innovations in the printed page.

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Speakers
  • Dr Damian Catani
  • Prof Joe Brooker