Claude Esteban (26 July 1935,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 10 April 2006,

) was a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. Author of a major poetic œuvre of this last half-century, Claude Esteban wrote numerous essays on art and poetry and was the French translator, inter alia, of Jorge Guillén,

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...

, Borges, García Lorca, or again, Quevedo.

Biography

Of Spanish father and French mother, divided between two idioms, Claude Esteban was marked by the painful feeling of a division and an exile in the language, which was at the source of his poetic vocation. He recalled this experiment in ''Le Partage des mots'' (''The Division of Words''), a kind of autobiographical essay about language and the impossible bilingualism, which led him to poetry and to the choice of French as his poetic language. Dominated by this feeling of a "partage", he had as a concern for "gathering the scattered", exceeding separations, and thus joining together poetry and painting, translating foreign poetries into French, writing to find an immediate bond between oneself and the sensitive world. He was a contributor to the ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

'' from 1964, then to the ''

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

'', in which he wrote many articles on poets and painters. In 1973, he founded the literary magazine '' Argile'', at Maeght, with the moral support of René Char: its twenty-four issues testified to the complicity between poetry and painting, while granting a new space to translated foreign poetry. He also dedicated a monograph to Chillida, and to Palazuelo, and wrote prefaces for many exhibitions catalogs of painters such as Raoul Ubac, Vieira da Silva, Arpad Szenes, Castro, Fermín Aguayo,

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker widely known for his subtly muted still-life paintings of ceramic vessels, flowers, and landscapes—their quiet, meditative quality reflecting the artist's ...

, Josef Sima,

Bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

, Giacometti,

Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

, Le Brocquy,

Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

, etc. (Most of these texts were published again in volumes, see infra). In 1968, he published his first book of poems, ''La Saison dévastée'' (''The Season of Devastation''), quickly followed by other books made with artists such as Arpad Szenes, Jean Bazaine and Raoul Ubac. These books were gathered in his first large collection of poems, published by Flammarion in 1979, ''Terres, travaux du cœur'' (''Earthes, works of heart''). At the same time, he published ''Un lieu hors de tout lieu'' (''A Place out of any Place''), an essay on poetry which, starting from the initial evocation of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''Georgics'', builds a reflection on poetry and a manifesto for new poetics, marked by the nostalgia of "a place out of any place" and by "a duty to seek" Esteban refers to

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

's "Farewell" in ''

A Season in Hell ''A Season in Hell'' () is an extended poem in prose written and published in 1873 by French writer Arthur Rimbaud. It is the only work that was published by Rimbaud himself. The book had a considerable influence on later artists and poets, ...

''. a new "conjuncture" between words and things. He experienced very early on a deep admiration for the work of the great Spanish poet Jorge Guillén; they became friends, and he translated in 1977 most of Guillén's major book, ''Cántico'' for

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

— Guillén himself translated into Spanish some of Esteban's poems, which he inserted in his last book, ''Final'' (1982). Esteban also translated many

's works, such as ''El Mono gramático'' (''The Monkey Grammarian''). In 1980, under the title of ''Poèmes parallèles'', he published an anthology of his translations, of which the preface, "Traduire", sets down the principles of an original reflection on poetics and on the translation of poetry. In 1987, he collected his essays on poetry and poetics in ''Critique de la raison poétique'' (''Critique of Poetic Reason''). In 1984, he received the

Mallarmé prize Mallarmé is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Mallarmé (1877–1956), French politician * Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a ...

for the prose poems of ''Conjoncture du corps et du jardin'' (''Conjuncture of Body and Garden''). The same year, he founded the ''Poésie'' collection at the Editions Flammarion, in which he published a new generation of poets. In 1989, three years after the death of his wife —the painter Denise Esteban—, he wrote ''Elégie de la mort violente'' (''Elegy of the Violent Death''), poems about mourning and memory. In 1993, he wrote ''Sept jours d'hier'' (''Seven Days of yesterday''), a remarkable suite of dense short poems that follow the "routes of mourning" and opens up the way of an appeasement. Deeply marked by the figure of King Lear, he published in 1996 ''Sur la dernière lande'' (''On the last Heath''), poems of wandering that evoke the figures of Shakespeare's tragedy. The year after, the Société des gens de lettres (SGDL) awarded him the Grand Prix of poetry for his whole work. Painting remained for him a major interest. In 1991, he received the France Culture Prize for ''Soleil dans une pièce vide'' (''Sun in an empty Room''), poetic narrations inspired by

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes. Born in Nyack, New York, to a ...

's paintings. He continued to write essays on art and published some luminous approaches of Velázquez,

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, Murillo..., until his last essay dedicated to

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

, ''L'Ordre donnée à la nuit'' (''The Order given to the Night''), in which he draws the outlines of his art approach. It is still painting, that of the

Faiyum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally f ...

portraits, which caused the writing of a splendid suite of poems, ''Fayoum'', published in 2001 by Gallimard in ''Morceaux de ciel, presque rien'' (''Pieces of sky, hardly anything''), that earned him the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

of poetry. In 2004, he published his ultimate reflections on poetry in ''Ce qui retourne au silence'' (''What returns to silence''), which also includes an essay on

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...

and another on

Varlam Shalamov Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (; 18 June 1907 – 17 January 1982), baptized as Varlaam, was a Russian writer, journalist, poet and Gulag survivor. He spent much of the period from 1937 to 1951 imprisoned in forced-labor camps in the Arctic reg ...

's ''

Kolyma Kolyma (, ) or Kolyma Krai () is a historical region in the Russian Far East that includes the basin of Kolyma River and the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the Kolyma Mountains (the watershed of the two). It is bounded to ...

Tales''. He had been a student of the prestigious

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

of Paris, and was professor of Spanish literature at the

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it m ...

until 1996, and then he became President of the Maison des Ecrivains (the French Writers House) from 1998 to 2004. Shortly before his death, an anthology of his poems came out — ''Le Jour à peine écrit (1967-1992)'' (''The Day scarcely written'') — while the manuscript of his last book and poetic legacy was completed under the title of ''La Mort à distance'' (''Death at a distance''); it was published by Gallimard in May 2007.

Awards

Each year links to its corresponding "

ear In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...

in poetry" article: *

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, for ''Conjoncture du corps et du jardin'' *

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

France Culture France Culture () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist ...

prize, for ''Soleil dans une pièce vide'' *

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: Grand Prix of poetry of the Société des gens de lettres, for his whole work *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

of poetry, for his whole work

Works

Poetry, translated into English

*''A Smile between the stones'', transl. by John Montague, Agenda Editions (Mayfield, UK), 2005. *''On the Last Heath'', transl. by John Montague, in ''Poetry'' (Chicago, Oct.-Nov. 2000), p. 78-83. *''Conjuncture of Body and Garden'', in ''Poetry Network 1 (Claude Esteban and Bernard Noël)'', collective translation (organized by The Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Poetry Ireland/Eigse Éireann, supervised by Theo Dorgan and John Montague), Dublin, Dedalus, 1992. *''Conjuncture of Body and Garden – Cosmogony'', transl. by James Phillips, Larkspur (CA, USA), Kosmos, Modern Poets in Translation Series, vol. 4, 1988. *''The Season of Devastation'', transl. by

Stanley Cavell Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, ...

, ''Pequod'', 16-17 (San Francisco, 1984), p. 240-242. *''Transparent God'', transl. by David Cloutier, Larkspur (CA, USA), Kosmos, Modern Poets in Translation Series, vol. 2, 1983. *''White Road, Selected Poems of Claude Esteban'', transl. by David Cloutier, Washington DC, The Charioteer Press, 1979.

In French

Poetry

Each year links to its corresponding "

in poetry" article: *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: ''La Mort à distance'', Gallimard *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: ''Le Jour à peine écrit (1967-1992)'', Gallimard *

: ''Morceaux de ciel, presque rien'', Gallimard *

: ''Etranger devant la porte, I. Variations'', Farrago *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

: ''Janvier, février, mars. Pages'', Farrago *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

: ''Sur la dernière lande'', Fourbis *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

: ''Quelqu'un commence à parler dans une chambre'', Flammarion *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: ''Sept jours d'hier'', Fourbis *

: ''Soleil dans une pièce vide'', Flammarion; Farrago, 2003. *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: ''Elégie de la mort violente'', Flammarion *

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

: ''Le Nom et la Demeure'', Flammarion *

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

: ''Conjoncture du corps et du jardin'' suivi de ''Cosmogonie'', Flammarion *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

: ''Terres, travaux du cœur'', Flammarion

Essays on poetry, literature and language

* ''Ce qui retourne au silence'', Farrago, 2004 (essays on French poetry, poetics,

Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016, Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was a ...

and

) * ''Etranger devant la porte, II. Thèmes'', Farrago, 2001 (essays on

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...

, Pierre Reverdy, René Char,

André du Bouchet André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French language, French-spe ...

, Jacques Dupin, poetic translation and collective translation.) * ''D'une couleur qui fut donnée à la mer'', Fourbis, 1997 (essays on poetic language, on

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romantici ...

Heine Heine is both a surname and a given name of German origin. People with that name include: People with the surname * Albert Heine (1867–1949), German actor * Alice Heine (1858–1925), American-born princess of Monaco * Armand Heine (1818–1883) ...

's translator, on García Lorca, and translations of

and

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

into French). * ''Le Partage des mots'', Gallimard, 1990. * ''Critique de la raison poétique'', Flammarion, 1987 (3 essays on poetry, another about translation, others on Hölderlin,

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

, Saint-John Perse, Jorge Guillén,

Gaston Bachelard Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and ''Epist ...

, Yves Bonnefoy, Philippe Jaccottet, Bernard Noël,

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

and

). * ''Un lieu hors de tout lieu'', Galilée, 1979.

Essays on art and monographs

* ''Par-delà les figures. Écrits sur l'art, 1964-2006'', edited by Xavier Bruel and Paul-Henri Giraud, preface by Pierre Vilar, L'Atelier contemporain, 2024. * ''L'Ordre donné à la nuit'', Verdier, 2005. * ''La Dormition du Comte d'Orgaz'', Farrago, 2002 (essays on Greco,

Le Lorrain Le Lorrain (; Martinican Creole: ) is a town and commune in the French overseas region and department of Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the ...

, Saenredam, Velázquez,

, Murillo,

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

). * ''Traces, figures, traversées. Essais sur la peinture contemporaine.'', Galilée, 1985 (essays on

, Morandi,

Sima Sima or SIMA may refer to: People * Sima (Chinese surname) * Sima (Persian given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey * Sima (Indian given name), an Indian feminine name used in South Asia * Sima (surname) * Sima (born 1 ...

, De Kooning,

Fernández Fernández () is a Spanish patronymic surname meaning "son of Fernando" of Germanic origin. The Germanic name Ferdinand that it derives from ( Gothic: ''Frið-nanð'') means "brave traveler." The Portuguese version of this surname is Fernandes ...

, Aguayo, Lam, Szenes,

Bazaine Bazaine is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolphe Bazaine-Vasseur (1809–1893), French railway engineer * François Achille Bazaine François Achille Bazaine (13 February 181123 September 1888) was an officer of the Fren ...

, Ubac, Tal-Coat, Hayter,

, Le Brocquy, Nasser Assar, Palazuelo, Appel and Alechinsky). * '' Palazuelo'', Maeght, 1980. * '' Ubac'', Maeght, 1978. * ''L'Immédiat et l'Inaccessible'', Galilée, 1978 (essays on

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, an ...

and painting,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, Morandi, Giacometti, Vieira da Silva, Szenes, Ubac, Aguayo,

, Dubuffet, Paulhan,

, Breton and

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and painting). * ''Veilleurs aux confins (Fernández, Morandi, Sima, Szenes, Tal-Coat, Ubac, Vieira da Silva)'', Fata Morgana, 1978. * '' Chillida'', Maeght, 1972.

External links

*
Video : extract of a public reading by Claude Esteban at the Poetry Festival of Medellín (Colombia) in 1993.
*
Audio : extract of a reading by Claude Esteban.
*

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esteban, Claude 1935 births 2006 deaths French art critics Spanish–French translators Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni Poets from Paris Prix Goncourt de la Poésie winners Prix des Deux Magots winners French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French translators Prix France Culture winners 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers