René Char (June 14, 1907 - February 19, 1988) was a 20th century poet.

Born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse departement of France, he died in 1988, Paris, France. In France, René Char is the subject of much controversy that is little known in the anglophonic world. Accused of aggressive self-promtotion, he is one of the few poets to have been published, during his lifetime, in the prestigious collection "Bibliothèque de la Pléiade", and closely monitored books dedicated to his work. Some regard his employment of hermeticism as willful obscurantism, calculated to appeal to his supporters in French academia. He is also accused of having a snobby obsession with Paris. Nevertheless, focusing on these controversies avoids the difficult problem of evaluating his poems. In works such as Lettera Amorosa (an early work which many critics find to be full of health and freshness), in some of his poetic aphorisms in Feuillets d'Hypnos, René Char has produced some of the most challenging and lively moments in contemporary French poetry.

The composer Pierre Boulez wrote his mid-1950s work La Marteau sans Maitre on poems by Char.

1907 births | 1988 deaths | French poets

Bibliography

• ''Leaves of Hypnos
• ''Fenêtres dormantes et porte sur le toit
• ''Le nu perdu et autres poèmes, 1964-1975
• ''Les Matinaux - La parole en archipel

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