The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

Victor Segalen 1878–1919

brest, france

S

egalen was a traveler, poet, essayist, and novelist whose work has attracted

increasing attention to this day. He attended medical school in Brest and

went on to become a naval doctor; this led to a post in Tahiti, where he

spent two years. Segalen arrived just three months after Gauguin’s death and

collected the painter’s last works, using them for inspiration as he wrote his novel

Les Immémoriaux (1907). During his time in French Polynesia he wrote on the

influence of French missionaries and colonialism; he was one of the first in the

West to take the viewpoint of the colonized. His curiosity also took him to China,

which provided him with material for his poems. Segalen wrote essays on Rim-

baud and Gauguin, and provided libretti for his friend Claude Debussy. Principal

works: Stèles, 1912; Peintures, 1916; Odes, 1926; Équipée, 1929; Thibet, 1963; Briques

et tuiles, 1967.

Funerary Edict

Testament divining the imperial tomb.

I, the Emperor, will have my burial place as I desire: this hospitable mountain,
fortunate is the field that it surrounds. Here the wind and the water in the
veins of the earth and the plains of the wind are propitious. This pleasant tomb
shall be mine.

***

With a five-tiered arch close o√ the entire valley: ennobled will be whatever
passes.

Extend the long ceremonial way: — animals, monsters, men.

There you shall place the lofty crenelated fortress. Carve in the depths of the
mountain a hole without weakness.