Oeuvres de Marcel Schwob. Volume 1 of 2, Spicilège

This volume gathers Marcel Schwob’s early forays into literary collage, presenting a series of essays, translations, and reflections that revolve around the enigmatic 15th‑century poet François Villon. Schwob weaves together historical documents, contemporary criticism, and his own imaginative commentary, inviting listeners to hear the tangled strands of Villon’s life, his turbulent youth, and his haunting verses. The material is presented with a scholar’s rigor yet never loses the lyrical curiosity that made Schwob a pioneer of modern essayistic prose.

Throughout the collection, Schwob’s voice shifts from the precise to the whimsical, turning archival footnotes into vivid scenes of medieval Paris. He interrogates the myths surrounding Villon’s birth, his education, and his notorious escapades, while also exploring the poet’s influence on later writers from Rabelais to Stevenson. Listeners will feel the tension between documented facts and the romanticized portrait, a balance that defines Schwob’s art of “spicilège”—a scrapbook of ideas that still resonates today.