Operatics

This book is a study of opera by the great French poet, art critic, and anthropologist Michel Leiris. Leiris began his writing career as a poet associated with the Surrealist group, but he later made major contributions as an art critic and anthropologist, as well as through his great autobiographical confession, L'Âge d'Homme (manhood). In Operratics Leiris turns his brilliant mind to one of his major loves, opera. Approaching the subject as a lover of music without any formal musical training, he discerns fascinating patterns in cultural movements in opera and reveals his personal tastes in this great genre.