5 h 17 minAudiobook7 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
For readers who enjoy playful, odd, short fiction, and anyone curious about the Paris of Picasso and the early avant-garde.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poet at the centre of Paris
- The birth and making of a poet
- Friends, lovers and the pull of art
- Other tales in the collection
- What the book says about art and society
- A voice that mixes jest and sorrow
Who’s who
- CroniamantalThe poet at the centre of the title tale, a dreamer and maker who lives among artists in Paris.
- Tristouse BallerinetteA woman in the poet's life, loved and longed for, and tied to his hopes and sorrows.
- The Bird of BeninA painter and friend of the poet who shares his belief that art matters above all.
- ViersélinThe poet's mother, whose part in his strange beginnings gives the tale the air of a legend.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 17 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Il poeta assassinato
by Guillaume Apollinaire · 1916
In a Paris half real and half imagined, Croniamantal lives for art in a world that turns poets into targets.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Poet Assassinated is a book of tales by Guillaume Apollinaire, the French poet who helped shape modern art in Paris before the First World War. It came out in 1916, while Europe was at war and Apollinaire himself was recovering from a wound received at the front.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poet at the centre of Paris
Apollinaire was not an outsider looking at artists. He was one of them. Before the war he wrote about painters, defended the new cubist movement, and kept company with Pablo Picasso and many others. The title tale draws on that world. Its hero, Croniamantal, is a poet, and his life is set among friends, rivals and admirers who talk about art all day.
The book does not treat this as a solemn subject. Apollinaire gives his characters odd names and odd habits. They argue, joke and wander through a city that feels half real and half invented. A reader meets a bohemian society that takes art very seriously and takes itself a little less so.
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What is The Poet Assassinated about?
It is a book of tales built around a title story about the poet Croniamantal and his life among artists in Paris. Other stories mix comedy, fantasy and sharp observation of society.
When was The Poet Assassinated written?
Apollinaire published it in 1916, during the First World War. The stories were gathered from work written over several earlier years, and the book reflects the Paris art world he knew.
Is The Poet Assassinated a true story?
No, it is fiction, but it draws on Apollinaire's own circle of painters and writers. Its characters have invented, fairy-tale names, and real people and quarrels hide behind some of them.
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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