French Literature Reviews - 2026

Brigitte Buffard-Moret, Jean Cléder, Maurice Carême. “Comme une boule de cristal.” Between Scholarly Poetry and Popular Song.
Poetry and Poetics

Bibliographic reference: Brigitte Buffard-Moret, Jean Cléder, Maurice Carême. “Comme une boule de cristal…” Entre poésie savante et chanson populaire, Artois Presses Université, collection "Artoithèque", 2012. EAN13: 9782848321639.

A crystal ball appears to be an object of utter clarity. Yet what immense effort lies behind such apparent simplicity... To describe the poetry of Maurice Carême, critics have often used terms such as simplicity and naïovety. However, simplicity is not simplistic; through this study and interviews with Jeannine Burny, readers will discover how Maurice Carême successfully drew inspiration from both popular song and scholarly poetry.

A rich selection of poems, including a section of 32 previously unpublished works, punctuates this analysis of his oeuvre, while photographs of Maurice Carême's "White House" offer insight into how inseparable the poet's art was from his way of life.

Brigitte Buffard-Moret is a professor at the University of Artois, where she teaches grammar, stylistics, and versification.

Jean Cléder is an associate professor of comparative literature at the University of Rennes II.

The volume explores the tension between apparent simplicity and scholarly craftsmanship in the work of Maurice Carême. To describe the poetry of Maurice Carême, critics have often used terms such as simplicity and naïvety, but simplicity is not simplistic. Through this study and interviews with Jeannine Burny, readers will discover how Maurice Carême successfully drew inspiration from both popular song and scholarly poetry. A rich selection of poems, including a section of 32 previously unpublished works, punctuates this analysis of his oeuvre.

In addition to the literary analysis, the book incorporates photographs of Maurice Carême's "White House", offering insight into how inseparable the poet's art was from his way of life. Readers interested in twentieth-century French poetry and the intersections between traditional song and verse may find this study relevant to their pursuits.