The Form of a City Changes Faster, Alas, Than the Human Heart: One Hundred Fifty Poems (1991-1998)

By Jacques Roubaud

Composed of 150 poems, with a title taken from Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal, and partly a response to the poetry of Raymond Queneau, this collection explores Jacques Roubaud's many poetic modes. He skips from the strict form of the sonnet to the freedom of prose poetry without abandoning the melancholy playfulness that has defined his lengthy writing career. A selection of Roubaud's best recent work, The Form of a City describes not only Paris, but also its people, its writers (and those of the Oulipo in particular), its monumental past, and its unsteady response to change.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564783839
• ISBN13: 9781564783837
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A collection written as an homage and response to the best-known poets of France

The Form Of A City Changes Faster, Alas, Than The Human Heart is a collection written as an homage and response to the best-known poets of France, including Charles Baudelaire and Raymond Queneau, is the latest work by author Jacques Roubaud. The free verse varies widely in structure from poem to poem, and all the works offer a keenly whetted slice of insight into the dynamic history and culture of France. XVth Arrondissement: no doubt in possession / of a smattering of Latin / an old man in Rue de la / Croix-Nivert smirks / before a store window / of lingerie feminine / "IN FINE"