“La gent irritable – La trêve”, by Saint-Pol-Roux: a translation

Abstract

French Symbolism not only resulted in literary oeuvres, but also in groups and periodicals. The petites revues were born to publish the symbolists’ productions, in the end of the 19th century. In these papers, literary criticism obtained an important role and illustrated the connections established between writers and press of that period; they were immersed in a combative and evolutionist atmosphere of literature. In this article, we propose a translation of the text “La gent irritable – La trêve”, signed by Saint-Pol- Roux and published by the Mercure de France, a French petite revue founded in 1890. In Saint-Pol-Roux’s lines, it is possible to find examples of what characterized the Symbolist criticism, its moment of circulation and the particularities of the literary field in the finde- siècle.