In his preface to Fureur et mystère Yves Berger writes: "Of all today's poets, René Char is the greatest matchmaker of words. I am thinking here only of those words which, by their sound or their meaning, are least suited to go together. Words which, by their very nature, were destined never to meet." It is clear, even on first acquaintance with Char's poetry, that he achieves much of his success through the juxtaposition of terms which, while seemingly unsuited, nonetheless "work" together, creating new and unexpected images and presenting a world in which objects have a significance which transcends the purely physical. (p. 373)

Char's is not a generous pen. No word is freely given, each being carefully weighed not merely to verify its suitability but to establish its necessity…. [For Char poetry] must be essential, not merely a verbal or sonorous artifact existing only in the...