• French literature

  / Valéry
• poetry

  / Poetry and prose
• art criticism

  / The growth of power and influence
• Jorge Guillén
• Symbolism

  / Symbolist literature
• literature

  / The writer’s personal involvement
• Martin Heidegger

  / Heidegger and Nazism
• Faust
• history of Europe

  / The phony peace

• The Graveyard by the Sea
• La Jeune Parque

Editions.

There are two major collected editions of Valéry’s works: the two-volume Gallimard edition, ed. by J. Hytier (1957–60); and the 12-volume collection (1931–50), volumes A and B published by Éditions du Sagittaire, remaining volumes by Gallimard. A photographic reproduction of Valéry’s 254 Cahiers has been published in a limited edition of 29 volumes (1957–61).

Correspondence.

Lettres à quelques-uns (1952); André Gide–Paul Valéry: Correspondance 1890–1942 (1955); Paul Valéry–Gustave Fourment: Correspondance 1887–1933 (1957).

Translations.

The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, ed. by J. Matthews, 15 vol. (1956– ; 13 volumes had appeared by 1975). Selections from Valéry’s poetry and prose have been translated into all the major European languages and also into Japanese and Russian.

Biographical and critical studies.

The most detailed is by Valéry’s daughter, Agathe Rouart Valéry in vol. 1 of the “Pléiade” edition; her Paul Valéry (1966) is rich in iconographical interest. Also particularly informative are H. Mondor’s studies Les Premiers temps d’une amitié: André Gide et Paul Valéry (1947), Précocité de Valéry (1957), and Propos familiers de Paul Valéry (1957). Good general introductions to Valéry’s life and work include: A. Berne-Joffroy, Valéry (1960); J. Duchesne-Guillemin, Études pour un Paul Valéry (1964); and A.E. Mackay, The Universal Self: A Study of Paul Valéry (1961). Excellent accounts of Valéry’s poetic theory and practice are: J. Hytier, La Poétique de Valéry (1953); W.N. Ince, The Poetic Theory of Paul Valéry: Inspiration and Technique, 2nd ed. (1970); J.R. Lawler, Lecture de Valéry, une étude de Charmes (1963); F. Scarfe, The Art of Paul Valéry (1954); and P.O. Walzer, La Poésie de Valéry (1953). The clearest studies of Valéry’s thought are: M. Bémol, Paul Valéry (1949) and La Méthode critique de Paul Valéry (1950, reissued 1960); and J. Robinson, L’Analyse de l’esprit dans les Cahiers de Valéry (1963).