Guy Goffette

Who is Guy Goffette?

Guy Goffette is a Belgian-born poet and writer. Goffette published his first book of poems in 1969. Since then he has worked as an editor at the publishing company Gallimard. Goffette's poetry has been compared to Verlaine - the contemporary French poet Yves Bonnefoy remarked

Goffette is an heir to Verlaine. A poet who very courageously has decided to remain faithful to his own personal life, in its humblest moments. He keeps things simple, he is marvelously able to capture the emotions and desires common to us all. Goffette is without question one of the best poets of the present moment in France.

Goffette's short fiction often reimagine historic figures - the poet Paul Verlaine in Verlaine d'ardoise et de pluie and again in L'autre Verlaine or the painter Pierre Bonnard through his muse Marthe in Elle, par bonheur et toujours nue. For several years, the American poet and critic Marilyn Hacker has translated a number of his poems, which have appeared in The Paris Review, TriQuarterly, Barrow Street, and Poetry London. A bilingual anthology of her translations of Goffette's poetry, Charlestown Blues, was published in 2007 by University Of Chicago Press