French Literature Reviews - 2026
Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman sur le vif
Poetry and Poetics
[Walt Whitman speaks]
Recorded by Horace Traubel
Translated from American English, with a preface and notes by Jacques Darras.
Edited by Brenda Wineapple
From 1888 until his death, Walt Whitman was regularly visited by a young man named Horace Traubel at his home on Mickle Street in Camden, engaging in wide-ranging, informal conversations with him. These talks were published in nine volumes in the United States between 1906 and 1996 under the title With Walt Whitman in Camden. Walt Whitman sur le vif brings together a thematic selection of remarks drawn from these thousands of pages.
Walt Whitman, the founding father of modern American poetry, touches upon a remarkably diverse array of subjects—including democracy, sexuality, women, America, art, poetry, and the Civil War—with a freedom of tone that will come as no surprise to readers of Leaves of Grass. His statements pulse with the very same energy and passion found in his visionary poetry. This book allows us to hear Whitman's voice, cadence, and phrasing as never before; we are right there in the room with him, listening to him speak.
The texts gathered in this volume emerge from the extensive records kept by Horace Traubel during his regular visits to the poet's Camden home during his final years. Traubel documented these conversations in a multi-volume work entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden, capturing the informal exchanges that took place between 1888 and Whitman's death. This edition offers a thematic selection drawn from those extensive transcriptions, making the intimate tone of the American poet's spoken reflections accessible through the translation, preface, and notes provided by Jacques Darras.
Readers interested in nineteenth-century American literature and the reception of Walt Whitman may find this translation relevant to their understanding of the poet's later years. The volume touches upon topics such as democracy, sexuality, art, and the Civil War, reflecting the thematic concerns familiar to readers of Leaves of Grass. The selection preserves the cadence and phrasing of the original conversations, presenting these remarks as a direct window into the poet's spoken thoughts during his residence on Mickle Street.