5 h 17 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a poet’s imagination meets a world that distrusts it?
In Guillaume Apollinaire’s The Poet Assassinated, Croniamantal lives among painters, writers and dreamers in Paris. His story begins like a legend, then follows the pull of love and art. Tristouse Ballerinette is tied to his hopes and sorrows; his painter friend, the Bird of Benin, shares his belief that art matters above all.
The title novella sits at the centre of a collection of shorter tales. Jokes, fables, gossip, travel and myth mingle as realistic scenes slide into the absurd. Apollinaire laughs at his artistic circle, but sorrow runs beneath the play. His poet is a hero, a fool and a target in a society uneasy with imagination.
What you’ll discover
- A poet’s strange beginnings Meet Croniamantal through origins that give his life the curious shape of a legend.
- Love among the artists Follow the hopes and sorrows bound up with Tristouse Ballerinette and the poet’s longing.
- Friendship built on art Meet the Bird of Benin, a painter who shares Croniamantal’s fierce faith in art.
- Reality turns absurd Enter tales where familiar scenes shift without warning, and jokes make room for myth.
- Laughter with real sorrow Feel the loneliness of making art beneath Apollinaire’s playful portraits of poets and dreamers.
Who will love it
Readers who love Paris studios and bohemian friendships, jokes with a sting, ghost stories, odd inventions and tales where poetry itself is the hero. Fans of the early twentieth century will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poet is born under a strange sign
- A tutor shapes a young dreamer
- Paris offers friends, rivals and an absurd theater
- Love calls the poet into the woods
- An art world ruled by money
- Shorter tales of dreams, memory and love
- Magic, kings and war close the book
Who’s who
- CroniamantalA young poet raised by a tutor near Aix, he writes for the theater and loves Tristouse Ballerinette beyond reason.
- Tristouse BallerinetteA slim, dark-haired girl with a jump rope, she enjoys fame and the admiration of others more than she enjoys the poet's love.
- PaponatA rich dandy who writes verse for fun, he wins Tristouse and denies being a poet.
- Horace TograthA chemist from Adelaide who starts the worldwide hunt for poets and is greeted as a miracle worker.
- MacaréeCroniamantal's mother, a rich and wilful young woman who marries a baron for his name and wants the pope's blessing for her child.
- JanssenA learned Dutch traveler who raises Croniamantal in a house near Aix and teaches him languages and poetry.
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- Large print hardcover
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El poeta asesinado in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El poeta asesinado
by Guillaume Apollinaire · 1916
A young poet seeks love and a place for his strange verse in a world of money and fashion.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a whole world decides that poets must die? Guillaume Apollinaire answers in The Poet Assassinated, a comic, tender and strange novella about Croniamantal, a young poet born in absurd circumstances.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poet is born under a strange sign
The title novella begins as a mock biography. Croniamantal is so famous that one hundred and twenty-three cities claim him, and the narrator promises to settle the matter of his birthplace. The tone is teasing from the first page.
His mother Macarée is a rich, wilful young woman who meets a wandering Walloon musician on a road near Spa. She marries François des Ygrées, a baron with an invented title who teaches heraldry. Together they travel to Rome for the pope's blessing. Later, a ticket mix-up takes them to Munich and its beer gardens instead of Monaco. The child is born at La Napoule in 1889.
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What is The Poet Assassinated about?
It follows Croniamantal, a young poet who writes strange verse, seeks love and tries to find a place in the art world. Fifteen shorter pieces fill out the book with dreams, memories and magic.
Who is Croniamantal?
He is the hero of the title novella, raised by a Dutch tutor and drawn to Paris and its painters. His name was invented by his father, and the book follows his love for Tristouse Ballerinette.
Is The Poet Assassinated a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction. It uses real places like Paris and Marseille and real figures like Ludwig of Bavaria, but the plot is invented and full of comic exaggeration.
The author
Guillaume Apollinaire
1880–1918 · French poet
Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet born in Rome in 1880. He lived in Paris and wrote poetry, stories, and plays. His works include the poetry collection Alcools (1913), The Poet Assassinated (1916), and Calligrammes (1918). He served in the French army during the First World War and died in Paris in 1918.
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