Alfred De Musset's Nights

Alfred de Musset's Nights, a landmark of French Romantic poetry, grew out of Musset's tempestuous relationship with George Sand, the novelist and feminist. Saint-Beuve, a critic who knew both Sand and Musset well, said of him: "That love was the great event in his life and I speak only of his life as a poet. His youthful talent was suddenly purified and ennobled." Sainte-Beuve said Musset's four Nights "mark the highest reaches of his lyrical gift." Now there is an English translation that does justice to the original. Norman Cameron, a distinguished poet in his own right, established himself as a remarkable translator of French verse. Robert Graves described Cameron's translations of Rimbaud and Villon as "unsurpassed," arguing that Cameron's idiosyncratic integrity was the reason for their excellence. Cameron's versions of Musset's Nights, published here for the first time, were praised by poets and critics when they were broadcast on the BBC. Because of a rare combination of technical ingenuity and poetic power, Cameron's translations prove faithful to Musset's meaning, form, and lyric gift.