Barbier, Carl Paul (d.c1993: Professor of French, University of Edinburgh, Scotland)

Carl Paul Barbier was Professor of French at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1964, he published Correspondence Mallarm-Whistler in France as well as editing several books of his poetry and correspondence for publication. He died c1993 .

Stphane Mallarm was born in Paris, France, in 1842 . He taught English from 1864 in Tournon, Besanon, Avignon and Paris until his retirement in 1893. Mallarm wrote poetry from an early age and was influenced by Charles Baudelaire with his first poetry being published in magazines in the 1860s. His most well known poem is probably L'Aprs Midi D'un Faun (The Afternoon of a Faun) (1865) which inspired Claude Debussy's tone poem (1894) of the same name and was illustrated by Manet. Among his other works are Hrodiade (1896) and Toast Funbre (A Funeral Toast), which was written in memory of the author Thopile Gautier. Mallarm's later works include the experimental poem Un Coup de Ds (1914), published posthumously.

From the 1880s Mallarm was the centre of a group of French writers in Paris, including Andr Gide and Paul Valry, to whom he communicated his ideas on poetry and art. According to his theories, nothing lies beyond reality, but within this nothingness lies the essence of perfect forms and it is the task of the poet to reveal and crystallise these essences. Mallarm's poetry employs condensed figures and unorthodox syntax. Each poem is build around a central symbol, idea, or metaphor and consists on subordinate images that illustrate and help to develop the idea. Mallarm's vers libre and word music shaped the 1890s Decadent movement.

For the rest of his life Mallarm devoted himself to putting his literary theories into practice and writing his Grand Oeuvre (Great Work). Mallarm died in Paris on 9 September 1898 without completing this work.

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