Robert Desnos
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Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in 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.


Early life

Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in
game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
and poultry at the '' Halles'' market. Desnos attended commercial college, and started work as a clerk. He also worked as an
amanuensis An amanuensis ( ) ( ) or scribe is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. It may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In some aca ...
for journalist Jean de Bonnefon. After that he worked as a literary columnist for the newspaper '' Paris-Soir''.


Career

The first poems by Desnos to appear in print were published in 1917 in ''La Tribune des Jeunes'' (Platform for Youth) and in 1919 in the
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
review ''Le Trait d'union'' (Hyphen), and also the same year in the Dadaist magazine '' Littérature''. In 1922 he published his first book, a collection of surrealistic aphorisms, with the title Rrose Sélavy (the name adopted as an "alternative persona" by the avant-garde French artist
Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...
; a pun on "Eros, c'est la vie"). In 1919 he met the poet Benjamin Péret, who introduced him to the Paris
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
group and
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'') ...
, with whom he soon became friends. In 1920, he did his military service which led him to Chaumont and then Morocco. While working as a literary columnist for ''Paris-Soir'', Desnos was an active member of the Surrealist group and developed a particular talent for automatic writing. He, together with writers such as Louis Aragon and Paul Éluard, would form the literary vanguard of surrealism. André Breton included two photographs of Desnos sleeping in his surrealist novel '' Nadja''. Although he was praised by Breton in his 1924 '' Manifeste du Surréalisme'' for being the movement's "prophet", Desnos disagreed with Surrealism's involvement in
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
politics, which caused a rift between him and Breton. Desnos continued work as a columnist. In 1926 he composed ''The Night of Loveless Nights'', a lyric poem dealing with
solitude Solitude, also known as social withdrawal, is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may wo ...
curiously written in classic
quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...
s, which makes it more like Baudelaire than Breton. It was illustrated by his close friend and fellow surrealist Georges Malkine. Desnos fell in love with Yvonne George, a singer whose obsessed fans made his love impossible. He wrote several poems for her, as well as the erotic surrealist novel ''La liberté ou l'amour!'' (1927). Critic Ray Keenoy describes ''La liberté ou l'amour!'' as "literary and lyrical in its outpourings of sexual delirium". By 1929 Breton definitively condemned Desnos, who in turn joined
Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...
and ''
Documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": ...
'', as one of the authors to sign '' Un Cadavre'' (A Corpse) attacking "le bœuf Breton" (Breton the ox or Breton the oaf). He wrote articles on "Modern Imagery", "Avant-garde Cinema" (1929, issue 7), "Pygmalion and the Sphinx" (1930, issue 1), and
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...
, the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
filmmaker, on his film titled '' The General Line'' (1930, issue 4). His career in radio began in 1932 with a show dedicated to
Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...
. During that time, he became friends with
Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, Hemingway, Artaud and
John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...
; published many critical reviews on
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and cinema; and became increasingly involved in politics. He wrote for many periodicals, including ''Littérature'', ''La Révolution surréaliste'' and ''Variétés''. Besides his numerous collections of poems, he published three novels, ''Deuil pour deuil'' (1924), ''La Liberté ou l'amour!'' (1927) and ''Le vin est tiré'' (1943); a play, ''La Place de l'étoile'' (1928; revised 1944); and a film script, '' L'Étoile de mer'' (1928), which was directed by
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
that same year.


Resistance and deportation

During World War II, Desnos was an active member of the French Résistance network Réseau AGIR, under the direction of Michel Hollard, often publishing under pseudonyms. For ''Réseau Agir'', Desnos provided information collected during his job at the journal ''
Aujourd'hui ''Aujourd'hui'' (, ''Today'') was a daily newspaper in Vichy France published between 1940 and 1944 in Paris. It was founded by journalist Henri Jeanson, who edited the publication during the autumn of 1940. After Jeanson was arrested and forced ...
'' and made false identity papers, and was arrested by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
on 22 February 1944. He was first deported to the German concentration camps of Auschwitz in occupied Poland, then
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...
, Flossenburg in Germany and finally to Terezín ( Theresienstadt) in occupied Czechoslovakia in 1945. Desnos died in Malá pevnost, which was an inner part of Terezín used only for political prisoners, from
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
, a month after the camp's liberation. There is a moving anecdote about Desnos's last days after the liberation while being tended to by a young
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
medical student, Josef Stuna, who recognised him thanks to reading Breton's '' Nadja''. Susan Griffin relates a story, previously recounted slightly differently in an article by her that appears in González Yuen, that exemplifies Desnos' surrealist mindset; his capacity to envisage solutions that defy conventional logic:


Legend of "The Last Poem"

A so-called "Last Poem" (''Dernier poème'') has been published numerous times; it was even set to music by Francis Poulenc in 1956. However, this poem never existed. The belief in its existence started after a misunderstanding. A Czech newspaper ''Svobodné noviny'' (Free Newspaper) published his obituary which ended with the sentence "In a strange, tragic way his verses have fulfilled" followed by a quote from Desnos' poem ''I Dreamt About You So Much'' translated by a Czech poet Jindřich Hořejší and printed in six lines. When re-published in France in '' Les Lettres Françaises'', the sentence was translated in a completely wrong way: "A strange and tragic fate gave a concrete meaning to a poem, the only one found with him and dedicated probably to his spouse" followed by an erroneous translation of the aforementioned verses (furthermore, the translation excluded the last line of the Czech translation). Due to this the legend of "The Last Poem" survived well into the 1970s. It was thanks to a Czech translator Adolf Kroupa and his two well-founded articles in ''Les Lettres Françaises'' (June 1960, August 1970) that this false belief in the poem started to cease to exist.


Personal life

Desnos was married to Youki Desnos, formerly Lucie Badoud, nicknamed "Youki" ("snow") by her lover
Tsuguharu Foujita was a Japanese–French painter. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita traveled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighborhood and developed an eclectic style that borrow ...
before she left him for Desnos. Desnos wrote several poems about her. One of his most famous poems is "Letter to Youki", written after his arrest.


Death

Desnos died in Malá pevnost, at Terezín, used exclusively for political prisoners, a month after the camp's liberation. There is a moving anecdote about Desnos's last days after the liberation while being tended to by Josef Stuna, a young Czech medical student who recognised him thanks to reading Breton's novel, ''Nadja''. Desnos died on 8 June 1945, aged 44 of
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
at Theresienstadt concentration camp,
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. He is buried at the
Montparnasse cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,00 ...
in Paris.


Legacy

Desnos' poetry has been set to music by a number of composers, including
Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanow ...
with '' Les Espaces du sommeil'' (1975) and '' Chantefleurs et Chantefables'' (1991), Francis Poulenc (''Dernier poème'', 1956) and Henri Dutilleux with ''Le Temps l'Horloge'' (2007). A selection from ''Chantefleurs et Chantefables'' was set by Jean Wiener.
Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché (born April 28, 1950) is an American poet, editor, professor, translator, and human rights advocate. She has received many awards for her literary work. Biography Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Michael Joseph and Louise ...
has translated his poetry and names Desnos as a significant influence on her own work. Dutch composer Marjo Tal set several of Desnos’ poems to music. In 1974, at the urging of Robert Desnos' widow,
Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
published an "illustrated book" with text from Robert Desnos titled ''Les pénalités de l'enfer ou les nouvelles Hébrides'' (The Penalties of Hell or The New Hebrides), Maeght Editeur, Paris, 1974. It was a set of 25 lithographs, five in black, and the others in colors. In 2006, the book was displayed in "Joan Miró, Illustrated Books" at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. One critic said it is "an especially powerful set, not only for the rich imagery but also for the story behind the book's creation. The lithographs are long, narrow verticals, and while they feature Miró's familiar shapes, there's an unusual emphasis on texture." The critic continued, "I was instantly attracted to these four prints, to an emotional lushness, that's in contrast with the cool surfaces of so much of Miró's work. Their poignancy is even greater, I think, when you read how they came to be. The artist met and became friends with Desnos, perhaps the most beloved and influential surrealist writer, in 1925, and before long, they made plans to collaborate on a livre d'artist. Those plans were put on hold because of the Spanish civil war and World War II. Desnos' bold criticism of the latter led to his imprisonment in Theresienstadt, and he died at age 45 shortly after his release in 1945. Nearly three decades later, at the suggestion of Desnos' widow, Miró set out to illustrate the poet's manuscript. It was his first work in prose, which was written in Morocco in 1922 but remained unpublished until this posthumous collaboration." A reading of "Relation d'un Rêve" (Description of a Dream) recorded by Desnos for radio broadcast in 1938 can be heard on the audiobook CD ''Surrealism Reviewed'', issued in 2002. In 2023 a novel, ''Traitor Comet'', was published as the first in a series on Desnos's life and his friendship with the poet
Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...
. The sequel, ''L'Etoile de Mer (The Starfish)'', was published in November 2024, and continues the story of Desnos as he defies
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 becomes obsessed with the wife of
Tsuguharu Foujita was a Japanese–French painter. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita traveled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighborhood and developed an eclectic style that borrow ...
, (later to become Desnos's wife), Youki.


Publications

* (1924) '; English translation: ''Mourning for Mourning'' (2012) * (1926) '; English translation: ''That Line "I See Myself" is Seven-League Boots'' (2017) * (1927) '; English translation: ''Liberty or Love!'' (1997) * (1930) ''The Night of Loveless Nights'' * (1930) ' (''Body and Goods'') * (1934) ' (''The Cut Necks'') * (1942) ' * (1943) ' (''State of Alert'') * (1943) ' (''The Wine is Drawn'') * (1944) ' (''Against the Grain'') * (1944) ' (''Bathing with Andromeda'') * (1944) '; English translation: ''Storysongs'' (2014) * (1945) ' * (1945) '


Published posthumously

* (1946) ' (includes previously unpublished works selected and prefaced by Paul Eluard) * (1947) ' * (1947) ' * (1947) ' * (1947) ' (includes works by Desnos, selected by Robert Ganzo) * (1949) ''Roberts Desnos'' (includes previously unpublished works selected by Pierre Berger) * (1952, 1955, 1970) ' (reprints the thirty ''Chantefables'' (1944); includes thirty previously unpublished ''Chantefleurs'' (1952), plus twenty additional ''Chantefleurs'' (1955)) * (1953) ' (previously unpublished text of 1923, written by Desnos for Jacques Doucet) * (1953) ' (includes many previously unpublished works selected by René Bertelé) * (1957) ' * (1962) ' * (1966) ' * (1974) ' * (1975) ' (includes many previously unpublished works selected by Marie-Claire Dumas) * (1978) ' (edited by Marie-Claire Dumas) * (1984) ' (works about painters, written by Desnos and edited by Marie-Claire Dumas) * (1987) ' (Audiobook CD; collection of songs and reviews, written by Desnos and edited by L. Cantaloube-Ferrieu) * (2017) ', translated and introduced by Timothy Adès (dual language text, French and English), Arc Publications


Filmography

*'' L'Étoile de mer'' (1928) – in collaboration with
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...


Discography

* ''Lutoslawski: Vocal Works'' (Chandos Records, 2011) – Includes selections from '' Les Espaces du sommeil'' and '' Chantefleurs et Chantefables''


References


Further reading

* (A collection of eleven articles on Robert Desnos.) * * * (A detailed account of the last fourteen months of the poet's life, remembered by a fellow prisoner.) * (A study of the five phases of Desnos's poetic development.) * * * (An extensive study of the use of ''time'' in Desnos's poetry.) * (Proceedings of the Cerisy symposium, on 10–17 July 2000, covering Desnos's contributions to radio, cinema, music, theatre, painting, Surrealism, poetry; plus previously unpublished letters.) * (An extensive biography by Dominique Desanti, a contemporary friend of Robert Desnos's.) * (A compilation of Desnos's newspaper articles as a film critic, plus the texts of some of his own scenarios and projects.) * (A compilation of 135 of Desnos's poems, in English translation.) * (A compilation of Desnos's texts about painters, such as Félix Labisse, Giorgio de Chirico,
Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
,
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
,
Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...
,
Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
,
Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
.) * (A compilation of 171 poems by Desnos and one by Louis Aragon, in French with English translation on opposite page.) * * * (The text of Desnos's journal for February 1944, followed by eleven essays on Robert Desnos, by: David Wills, Adelaïde M. Russo, Mary Ann Caws, Michel Murat, Jacqueline Chénieux-Gendron, Renée Riese Hubert, Colette Guedj, Serge Gaubert, Reinhard Pohl and Carmen Vásquez.) * * (Proceedings of the symposium held at the University of Picardie Jules Vernes on 6 March 2006; with: Jacques Darras, Pierre Lartigue, Jean-Luc Steinmetz, Mary Ann Caws, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert, Michel Murat and Carmen Vásquez.) * * (An in-depth biography.) * * (A study of the influence of Rimbaud and Apollinaire on the works of Robert Desnos.) * (A study of Desnos's poetry as expressed through his language games and quest for identity, love, and liberation.) * (A recollection of Robert Desnos and his encounter in May 1945 with Léo Radek, the last surviving child in Terezin.) * (A study of Desnos's writing style.) * (A study of Desnos's work for radio, cinema and the press; includes twelve articles he wrote in the weekly ''Voilà'' (1933–1935), with English translations.) * * * (A biographical collection relating the tragic deaths of ten poets, including Robert Desnos.) * * (With extensive appendices reprinting articles Desnos wrote about Cuba as a journalist, and related notes (some handwritten) sourced from the Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet.) * *


External links


Poems in English



Association of Robert Desnos Friends (in French)

Works by Robert Desnos
(public domain in Canada)
''The Period of the Sleeping Fits.''
by Thacker, Eugene. Mute magazine, 16 October 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Desnos, Robert 1900 births 1945 deaths Writers from Paris French poets Surrealist poets French surrealist writers French erotica writers Frontist Party politicians French civilians killed in World War II French Resistance members Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French male poets 20th-century French male writers Resistance members who died in Nazi concentration camps Deaths from typhoid fever