Etudes and Preludes: French and English Edition (Renée Vivien)

'Etudes and Preludes' is the first book of poetry published by Renée Vivien (born Pauline Tarn), and was released in 1901 when she was 24. Originally written in French, it is presented here as a bilingual edition for the first time in its entirety. The rhyming English translation is provided by the artist and writer Melanie Davis.Most of the poems were inspired by Renée’s first lover, Natalie Clifford Barney, who was a writer as well. Openly Lesbian at a time when it was still illegal, with a relationship style we would now call polyamorous, Natalie later became famous for her salons, frequented by the great creative talents of her day. The Natalie-themed poetry begins in worshipful awe and reveals a sense of unworthiness on Renée’s part. Further into the book, however, is growing evidence of a more accurate, even critical evaluation of Natalie and their relationship, and an awakening to her own powers. Natalie is depicted as an irresistible siren, a drawing-room seductress, and a flickering chimera, fleshed-out with painterly depictions of her physical attributes and her strong personality.A poem titled 'Lucidity' is an example of Renée's conflicted emotions:The fine art of vice occupies all your leisure,And you know how to arouse the heat of pleasure,At which your perilous and supple body plays.The scent of your bed blends with your gown's perfumed haze.Your blonde charm, bland as honey, is superficial.You love only the false and the artificial,The music of fine words and murmurs affected.Your kiss turns and glides over lips you've neglected.Your pale wintry eyes shine with starry expressions.Mourning follows your steps in gloomy processions.Your gestures are reflections, your words are shadows.Your flesh softens from kisses whose sum no one knows.Your soul is withered, your body worn over-much.Languishing and lustful, your cunningly light touchDisregards the loyal beauty of the embrace.You lie like one loves, and beneath your feigned sweet grace,One can sense a reptile lurking, so watchfully.Nestled deep in the shadows, like a reef-less sea,The tombs are less impure than your bed, less accursed...O, Woman! I know this, but for your mouth I thirst!Other poems, mined from the rich oeuvre that had been growing since Renée’s teens, highlight female figures of legend such as Bacchantes, Amazons, the Greek poet Sappho (Psappha in her own Aeolic Greek dialect, Renée discovered), and the biblical Delilah. There are also poems we might now call gothic fantasy, verging at times on horror. There are graveyard scenes alongside poems of fluid, ethereal beauty. Written at the turn of the 20th century, Renée’s work could be called 'Art Nouveau poetry' with a touch of Decadence and is often called Symbolist. Going beyond mere style, though, she speaks in a voice which could only be her own. There is a sense of awareness that she and Natalie are making history by writing openly and honestly about same-sex love at a time when it was still forbidden.Despite the brevity of their relationship, Natalie’s presence would continue to periodically haunt Renée’s subsequent writing, and life, until the poet died in 1909, at age 32, of pneumonia.This is the first in a series of twelve bilingual editions of Renée Vivien's poetic works. A complete list of her poetry and prose is included in the index of this book. Read more