Le Pin sur la lune et autres poèmes inédits by Valentine Penrose (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Le Pin sur la lune et autres poèmes inédits by Valentine Penrose Gina Stamm Penrose, Valentine. Le Pin sur la lune et autres poèmes inédits. Ed. Sévérine Orban. PU de Liège, 2022. Pp. 362. ISBN 978-2-87562-336-2. 14€ (paper). This collection unites previously uncollected poems by the poet Valentine Penrose (1898-1978), a figure often associated with the surrealist movement, although, as the editor points out, her career included varied work that extends beyond the constraints of that movement (39). This book is as necessary as it is overdue, as Penrose has long been overshadowed by some of her contemporaries and has languished without much critical attention. In addition to the general obscurity to which many of the women associated with the surrealists have been subjected over the last century, Penrose herself spent a great deal of her life outside of Europe, particularly in India, and concentrating on spiritual practice rather than self-promotion, although she maintained a long friendship with Paul Eluard who would be a champion of her work. So there has been a disconnect [End Page 164] between Penrose and both a popular and critical readership. Hopefully this new edition will make her work more visible and accessible to a new audience. This volume includes a biographical forward of the editor that, in addition to providing context for the works contained in the book, also shows the extensive archival work that Sévérine Orban has done to establish the versions of poems presented here. Orban indicates where there is uncertainty in the documentation about the sequence of events in Penrose's life. The editor also clearly spells out the principle of selection for the poems in the volume: unpublished poems, poems having been published in periodicals but that subsequently remained largely unavailable, and selected poems that had appeared in previous collections, but which Penrose had corrected in her personal copies and which were never corrected in subsequent editions. Orban also highlights the major themes and motifs of Penrose's work, which engages heavily with the natural world, spirituality, and, as her writing progressed, Sapphic imagery which was inseparable from these other domains. The poems are arranged chronologically by decade. The volume also includes endnotes and helpfully contains an annotated bibliography of both Penrose's publications and the (sadly limited) critical works dedicated to her. This volume will hopefully lead to an increase in the attention paid to this too-often-overlooked poet. The work that has gone into collecting and editing the poems is evident. The only point of criticism to be made is perhaps more of a regret based on the knowledge that since Penrose will almost assuredly never benefit from the Pléiade treatment, more thorough annotation would have been welcome. In addition, for ease of comparing the different versions of the poems, recourse to endnotes for the changes made is not as user-friendly as it could be. Orban does acknowledge that this choice is deliberate, saying "Nous avons choisi d'offrir des textes les plus vierges possible d'annotations, ce qui signifie que quand les textes sont présentés dans leur version corrigée, nous ne notons pas entre crochets les termes ajustés" (51-2). The reader's experience of these poems then may thus depend on one's reason for reading the book—whether for pleasure or research. Despite these minor reservations, this book is a valuable contribution to the world of French literary studies and to the knowledge and understanding of a poet who has never received her due. Gina Stamm The University of Alabama Copyright © 2023 Women in French Studies