Poems in Prose

A Showcase Anthology

Edited, Translated, and Introduced

by Brian Stableford

The oxymoronic notion of poems in prose was popularized in France by Charles Baudelaire and subsequently mined by countless authors and many movements, from Rimbaud to Renée Vivien, from the Parnassians to the Decadents.

Collecting together one hundred sixty-seven different pieces from sixty-two authors, Poems in Prose: A Showcase Anthology, is the most broad-ranging anthology of its kind. Surveying prose poetry from its precursors, through the Third Republic, and up until the beginning of the twentieth century, the volume brings together texts from well-known exponents such as Stéphane Mallarmé and Marcel Schwob, as well as numerous lesser-known authors. A large portion of the texts, including items by Jean Lorrain, Augusta Holmès, and Hugues Rebell, appear in English for the first time.

The volume, one of a handful that editor and translator Brian Stableford left behind, provides an in-depth introductory essay, as well as brief biographies of the various personalities presented.

About the Editor
Brian Stableford (1948-2024) was a British science fiction writer, translator, and literary scholar who published over one hundred and twenty volumes of original fiction and over two hundred volumes of translations. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Brian Craig and Francis Amery. His original fiction includes the Hidden Swan series of novels, which began with Halcyon Drift (1972) and ended with Swan Song (1975), and the novels The Werewolves of London (1990) and The Cassandra Complex (2001). Among his important translations are Monsieur de Phocas by Jean Lorrain and Mephistophela by Catulle Mendès. He furthermore published numerous volumes of nonfiction, which include The Mysteries of Modern Science (1977) and, in four volumes, New Atlantis: A Narrative History of Scientific Romance (2016).

Paperback, 412 pages. Release date: December 3, 2024
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-162-0
Price: US$32.00