Paul Valery - Collected Works (26 books)

* Paul Valery - Collected Works (26 books)

PAUL VALÉRY (1871–1945) was a preeminent French poet, essayist, and philosopher who bridged the gap between 19th-century Symbolism and 20th-century intellectual modernism. Valéry was a devoted follower of Stéphane Mallarmé but famously withdrew from writing poetry for nearly two decades—a period known as his "great silence"—after an intellectual crisis in 1892, choosing instead to dedicate himself to the "Idol of the Intellect". When he finally returned to poetry, he did so with meticulous perfectionism, creating works characterized by profound intellectual rigor, classical prosody, and a focus on the mechanics of consciousness rather than emotional confession.

His return to verse was marked by the 1917 publication of La Jeune Parque (THE YOUNG FATE) , a complex, 512-line monologue that immediately established him as a major voice in French literature. This was followed by the Album des vers anciens (ALBUM OF EARLY VERSES) (1920) and Charmes (CHARMS) (1922), which includes his most celebrated poem, Le Cimetière marin ("The Graveyard By The Sea") . Charmes solidified his reputation for creating "pure poetry," blending precise classical form with deep philosophical inquiry.

Alongside poetry, Valéry produced an extensive body of prose essays that explored aesthetics, literature, science, and philosophy. He considered his nonfiction—or "true oeuvre"—to be of greater importance than his poetry. Key collections include INTRODUCTION TO THE METHOD OF LEONARDO DA VINCI (1895), an early study of creative genius and intellect inspired by Leonardo da Vinci; MONSIEUR TESTE (1896), a foundational, philosophical "anti-novel" detailing an individual completely devoted to mental activity; Variété (1924–1944), a multivolume series of essays on art and culture; REFLECTIONS ON THE WORLD TODAY (1931), in which he reflected on modern civilization and political change between the wars; and THE ART OF POETRY (1958), a posthumous collection of his various meditations and essays on the theory and practice of poetry. Through these essays Valéry gained a reputation not only as a poet but also as a major public intellectual, frequently lecturing and participating in European cultural debates.

Perhaps the most revealing dimension of Valéry’s oeuvre is the immense body of notebooks known as the Cahiers , written almost daily from 1894 until his death in 1945. Their publication in English is limited compared to the original French corpus, which spans roughly 30,000 pages across 29 volumes, recording his thoughts on psychology, mathematics, language, creativity, and self-analysis, offering an unparalleled glimpse into his intellectual method. While not a dedicated "Notebooks" collection, the 15-volume COLLECTED WORKS OF PAUL VALÉRY (Bollingen Series, 1956–1975) incorporate significant portions of the Cahiers throughout.

Taken together—poetry, essays, dialogues, and notebooks—his work constitutes a uniquely interdisciplinary exploration of artistic creation and consciousness in modern European literature.


The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise noted:

== COLLECTED WORKS OF PAUL VALÉRY (1956–1975) ==

* Vol. 1: Poems [tr. Paul & Lawler] (Princeton, 1971) – PDF^
* Vol. 2: Poems in the Rough [tr. Corke] (Princeton, 1969)
* Vol. 3: Plays [tr. Paul & Fitzgerald] (Pantheon, 1960) – PDF^
* Vol. 4: Dialogues [tr. Stewart] (Pantheon, 1956)
* Vol. 5: Idée Fixe [tr. Paul] (Pantheon, 1965)
* Vol. 6: Monsieur Teste [tr. Mathews] (Princeton, 1973)
* Vol. 7: The Art of Poetry [tr. Folliot] (Pantheon, 1958)
* Vol. 8: Leonardo, Poe, Mallarmé [tr. Cowley & Lawler] (Princeton, 1972)
* Vol. 9: Masters and Friends [tr. Turnell] (Princeton, 1968)
* Vol. 10: History and Politics [tr. Folliot & Mathews] (Pantheon, 1962)
* Vol. 11: Occasions [tr. Shattuck & Brown] (Princeton, 1970)
* Vol. 12: Degas, Manet, Morisot [tr. Paul] (Pantheon, 1960) – PDF^
* Vol. 13: Aesthetics [tr. Manheim] (Pantheon, 1964)
* Vol. 14: Analects [tr. Gilbert] (Princeton, 1970)
* Vol. 15: Moi [tr. Mathews] (Princeton, 1975) – PDF^

== OTHER EDITIONS ==

* The Art of Poetry [tr. Folliot] (Vintage, 1961) – PDF^
* Charms and Other Pieces [tr. Dale] (Anvil, 2007)
* Collected Verse [tr. Ryan] (Oxford, 2024) – ePUB / PDF
* Dance and the Soul [tr. Bussy] (John Lehmann, 1951)
* The Idea of Perfection: Poetry & Prose [tr. Rudavsky-Brody] (FSG, 2020) – ePUB
* Monsieur Teste [tr. Mandell] (NYRB, 2025) – ePUB
* Paul Valéry: An Anthology [ed. Lawler] (Princeton, 1977)
* Reflections on the World Today [tr. Scarfe] (Thames & Hudson, 1951) – PDF^
* Selected Writings (New Directions, 1950)
* Valery's Graveyard [Le Cimetière marin, tr. McGrath & Comenetz] (Peter Lang, 2013)

== LETTERS ==

* Self-Portraits: The Gide-Valéry Letters, 1890-1942 [ed. Mallet] (Chicago, 1966)

PDF^ courtesy of Mohamed5438


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