Morisot, Manet and Mallarmé, Part 2

Through her salon, through Mallarmé's untiring interest in anyone interesting, Morisot and Mallarmé became good friends. A book of their corrrespondence was eventually published. These letters indicate their mutual appreciation for fine music, their pleasure at each other's conversation.

In March of 1896, Mallarmé wrote the introduction to the catalogue of her retrospective Durand-Ruel. This first portion is often reprinted in Mallarmé's writings, including in Divagations. The rest of this will be a translation of his piece, with some comments provided in brackets, but a more considered discussion offered tomorrow. His writing is intentionally halting, slow-paced where a familiarity with the cuts of Emily Dickinson, for example, can provide a guide as to how to read him. He is always difficult but there is satisfaction in time.

The translation by Jill Anderson in Mallarmé in Prose edited by Mary Ann Caws is beautiful and clear. She does an amazing job of maintaining qualities of his style while also making it comprehensible in English. Since English does not have gendered nouns, or have verbs that agree in gender, keeping all the tangents that Mallarmé allows makes much of the sense disappear in English. It is necessary to alter his phrasing or order a little in order to permit the English reader to enjoy what he is saying. On the other hand too loose a translation could reduce the forcefulness of his language. She balances it perfectly. She begins:

Such a profusion of bringt, iridescent paintings, assembled here, precise in detail, exuberant, impulsive, patiently awaiting future acclaim...

Fortunately she is now well recognized, written about, thought about, and she remains for me a wonderful example of what is possible, as a woman and as a creative person.