Fun Facts Friday: Stéphane Mallarmé

Stéphane Mallarmé (18 March, 1842 – 9 September, 1898) was a major French Symbolist poet.

By Édouard Manet – Unknown, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103529

1)      He was born in Paris as Étienne Mallarmé.

2)      Mr. Mallarmé’s occupation was an English teacher.

3)      He hosted intellectual gatherings at his house called “salons” for poets, artists and philosophers.

4)      The group met on Tuesdays (mardi in French) and were known as les Mardistes.

5)      These informal gatherings gave Mr. Mallarmé much influence on generations of writers.

6)      He married Maria Christina Gerhard on 10 August, 1863.

7)      The couple had a daughter, Geneviève Mallarmé.

8)      His poems are considered to be some of the most difficult to translate into English because of the important part that the sound of the words play in his work.

9)      Mallarmé’s poetry has inspired several musical pieces.

10)   In 1875 Mallarmé translated Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven into French, while painter Édouard Manet illustrated it.

Zohar -Man of la Book