Allen Mandelbaum’s long-awaited Savantasse of Montparnasse is a work of wonder, wit, and exhilarating originality. This is Mandelbaum’s fifth verse volume and finds him as “a poet in complete command of his craft” (Library Journal) and is endowed with contemporary play, contemporary urgency, and enduring music. It adds new, exciting terrain to the work of a poet who has ranged through so many of “time’s arrondissements” in both his own verse and the eight volumes of his verse translations. Savantasse features artwork from Marialuisa de Romans, a longtime collaborator.