Books: The Poet as Hero

HYPNOS WAKING (279 pp.)−Rene Char—Random House ($5).

Rene Char is a Frenchman with a great, hulking frame (6 ft. 3 in.) and a jaw like a duck press. By almost unanimous consent of his countrymen, he is the greatest French poet of his time. Existentialist Author Albert Camus spoke for the French intelligentsia when he saluted Char as "the great poet for whom we have been waiting." But English-reading people must take a French poetic reputation, like the credentials of ambassadors, largely on trust. In this bilingual sampler of his work, U.S. readers will be able to decide for themselves that measure...

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