René Crevel (; 10 August 1900 – 18 June 1935) was a French writer involved with the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

movement.

Life

Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Crevel studied literature and law at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. He met

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...

and joined the Dada movement as early as 1923 (Crevel would play the "Eye" character in Tzara's play ''Le Coeur à Barbe'', in July 1923), then got closer to

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

and the Surrealists. During the 1923/1924 winter, a love affair between Crevel and American artist Eugene McCown began. Through McCown, Crevel mingled with a chic

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

crowd and got to know

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Caresse and Harry Crosby, and others. From 1924, Crevel wrote novels such as ''Détours'' and ''Mon Corps et moi'' ("My Body and Me") where he would extensively write about his fears, his revolt and his feeling of malaise. In 1926 was published ''La Mort difficile'' ("Difficult Death"), a novel where he depicts his lover McCown as "Arthur Bruggle". The publication ended their love affair, though Crevel would be close to McCown till the end of his life. Also in 1924, he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

which caused him to frequently leave Paris for sanatoriums, especially in Switzerland. The 1929 exile of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

persuaded him to rejoin the surrealists. Remaining faithful to Breton, he struggled to bring communists and surrealists closer together. In 1928, during a short stay in Berlin, he met Carl Sternheim's daughter, Dorothea, with whom he fell in love. Much of Crevel's work deals with his involvement as a communist and his inner turmoil at being

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

.Renee Winegarten, "The golden boy of Surrealism: On René Crevel", ''The New Criterion'', February 1987, Crevel killed himself by turning on the

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

on his kitchen stove the night of 18 June 1935—exactly the same way as he described in his first published book—several weeks before his 35th birthday. There were at least two direct reasons: (1) There was a conflict between Breton and Ilya Ehrenburg during the first "International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture" which opened in Paris in June 1935. Breton, who, like all fellow surrealists, had been insulted by Ehrenburg in a pamphlet which saidamong other thingsthat surrealists were pederasts, slapped Ehrenburg several times on the street, which led to surrealists being expelled from the Congress. Crevel, who, according to

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

, was "the only serious communist among surrealists", spent a whole day trying to persuade the other delegates to allow surrealists back, but he was not successful and left the Congress at 11:00 pm, totally exhausted. Crevel reportedly had learned that he suffered from renal

upon leaving the Congress. He left a note which read "Please cremate my body. Loathing." When Breton included the question "Suicide: Is It a Solution?" in the first issue of ''

La Révolution surréaliste ''La Révolution surréaliste'' (English: ''The Surrealist Revolution'') was a publication by the Surrealists in Paris. Twelve issues were published between 1924 and 1929. Shortly after releasing the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'', André Bret ...

'' in 1925, Crevel was one of those who answered "Yes". He wrote "A solution that is obviously the fairest and most definitive of them all, the solution of suicide".

Publications

Original French

*''Détours'' (1924) *''Mon Corps et moi'' (1925) *''La Mort difficile'' (1926) *''Babylone'' (1927) *''L'Esprit contre la raison'' (1928) *''Êtes-vous fous?'' (1929) *''Le Clavecin de Diderot'' (1932) *''Les Pieds dans le plat'' (1933) *''Le Roman cassé et derniers écrits'' (1934–1935)

English translations

* ''My Body and I'' (translation of ''Mon Corps et Moi'';

Archipelago Books Archipelago Books is an American not-for-profit publisher dedicated to promoting "cross-cultural exchange through international literature in translation." Located in Brooklyn, New York, it publishes small to mid-size runs of international fictio ...

, 2005) * ''Babylon'' (translation of ''Babylone''), translated by

Kay Boyle Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. Boyle is best known for her fiction, which often explored the intersections of personal and political themes. Her ...

North Point Press North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, 1985, ; Sun and Moon Press, 1996) * ''Putting My Foot in It'' (translation of ''Les Pieds dans le plat''; Dalkey Archive Press, 1994) * ''Difficult Death'' (translation of ''La Mort difficile''; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986) * ''1830'' (Elysium Press, 1996) * ''The Noble Mannequin Seeks and Finds her Skin''; 1934 (translation from French in 'The Surrealism Reader''); Tate Publishing 2015, * ''Are You All Crazy?'' (translation of ''Êtes-vous fous?''; Snuggly Books, 2023)

References

External links

*
Putting My Foot in It
'. Official site for this translation. * René Crevel

Revue ''Le Disque Vert'', 2e année, 3e Série, n°1, 1924. * René Crevel

Revue ''Le Surréalisme Au Service De La Révolution'', n° 5, May 1933. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crevel, Rene 1900 births 1935 suicides 1935 deaths 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French poets Analysands of René Allendy Bisexual male writers Bisexual novelists Bisexual poets French communists French male novelists French male poets French surrealist writers French bisexual men French bisexual writers French LGBTQ novelists French LGBTQ poets Suicides by gas Suicides in Paris Writers from Paris