David Hillery Knihy

Focusing on the vibrant life of the Théâtre des Variétés, the book provides a detailed account of a year's worth of performances, highlighting the financial aspects of the theater. It offers insights into the principal actors and actresses, capturing their impressions and contributions. Additionally, readers will find a month-by-month overview of the productions staged, painting a comprehensive picture of the theater's artistic and economic landscape.

The book assesses the influence of music on the ideas and poetic practice of a number of late nineteenth-century poets. Particular attention is paid to the effect that the musical model supposedly had on the traditional ways of writing poetry, especially in the key areas of rhythm, sound-repetition and imagery. The chapters on Baudelaire and Mallarmé relate their ideas on music to their more general theories of art and poetry and at the same time provide a suitable framework for a critical and evaluative discussion of the Symbolist poets' contribution to the music-poetry debate in the 1880s and 1890s.