In progress – looking for a publisher
Before punk, before the Beats, before existentialism, and beyond Surrealism there were two visionaries, two rebels, two friends…and two tragic heroes,
Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos.
These two men should never be forgotten.
Please visit the Association Rodez Antonin Artaud for more information about Artaud’s life and work
From Book 3: The Spanish Civil War, Part 2
The spring unwound under slow fingers. Franz and Catherine left for the Pyrenees, taking Aleron with them; he had been ill and Franz thought the mountains would help him. Desnos was working with André Masson on a new book, Les sans cou. Youki and Louis both worked on their art galleries and most ofContinue reading “From Book 3: The Spanish Civil War, Part 2”
From Book 3: The Spanish Civil War, Part 1
The next morning, my brother and I agreed to spend a day apart. I showed my photograph to shopkeepers, to hotel clerks, to women in the street. No one had seen Justine. I ended up in a graveyard, sitting on a toppled gravestone and staring at her photograph. Now I doubted Justine hadContinue reading “From Book 3: The Spanish Civil War, Part 1”
From Book 4: Meeting with Dr. Toulouse
But what shall become of him? —Letter, Aurélien-Marie Lugné-Poe to Dr. Edouard Toulouse Dr. Edouard Toulouse was a dapper, pleasant gentleman of average height who had an oval face, a strong chin and twinkling, startling eyes behind round glasses. He left his hat with Catherine and walked right up to me to shake my hand, unintentionallyContinue reading “From Book 4: Meeting with Dr. Toulouse”
From Book 3: Artaud, Anais Nin and Henry Miller
Previous scene here (the lecture at the Sorbonne). Hulkish Allendy appeared in the doorway, eyes glowering from beneath his brows. His own drooping beard barely moved when he spoke. “Get him out of here.” He and the blushing man seized my arms and dragged me to the entrance. My laughter bounced over the headsContinue reading “From Book 3: Artaud, Anais Nin and Henry Miller”
From Book 3: I Love You, Part Three
Previous scene here. I walked to the end of rue Blomet and turned right onto the rue de Javel where I found a weather-battered movie house advertising Abel Gance’s Lucrezia Borgia. I went in. The film was simply dreadful. It had none of the scope or deftness of Gance’s grand epic, Napoléon. I foundContinue reading “From Book 3: I Love You, Part Three”
Photos from my visit to Paris to write this series
The Theatre de l’Atelier, where Antonin Artaud acted as a member of Charles Dullin’s troupe 
The last residents of Robert Desnos with a placard: “Here lived from 1934 to 1944 ROBERT DESNOS, French poet, arrested by the Gestapo and deported, he died because he believed in freedom, progress, and justice.” 
Those rose I laid on the grave of Desnos in Montparnasse Cemetery. Desnos was cremated with a rose at Terezin after liberation. 
The Select features prominently in my novel. 
A coaster from this cafe once a haunt of artists and the working class 
Artaud’s favorite cafe, where the waiters were so kind to him
The Double, a novel series
about Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos
Read Excerpts
i have been working on this series for 30 years and it has taken me where I did not expect to go. I never set out to write this book. Artaud and I merely shared the same concerns about language.
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I do not intend to profit from the sacrifices of these two men. I only want the world to know about them and never forget them. Please explore this important work done by others.
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About the Author
A novel, about my friends and beloved teachers who I’ve never met, Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos.
It was Artaud who took over the book I tried to write, and it was knowing Artaud who led me to Desnos.
I am a writer, a former actress and dancer, and many other things. I have not been born yet; I am not in the world yet.
All I ask is Life. Therefore I offer this failed “spell.”
