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: A Challenge
The poor woman now laid her large, beringed fingers on my arm and was thrusting a letter before my eyes. Her name was Valentine Hugo. I remembered the name as the costume designer for The Passion of Joan of Arc. There it was, in Breton’s unmistakable handwriting: I will love you so long asContinue reading “From Book 3: A Challenge”
From Book 3: Desnos and Youki
The weekend—two days of rain, two days of revelation—was over and now the sun was out, drying up the puddles in the streets, puddles that had caught the glitter and frivolous paper streamers of some Montparnasse street party. The sun turned the glistening streets to dry pavement and raised my fears. Artaud was likeContinue reading “From Book 3: Desnos and Youki”
From Book 3: Never!
After the attempted suicide of Valentine Hugo finally faded from the gossip columns, they filled with reports that Foujita had lost millions in a game of baccarat. Youki told Desnos it was not true, but nevertheless she and Foujita received a notice of back taxes owed. When Foujita sent his new secretary to the taxContinue reading “From Book 3: Never!”
From Book 3: The Lecture at the Sorbonne
On the night of Artaud’s lecture on “Theatre and the Plague,” Desnos had his radio show to do, and Louis was showing his paintings to an interested buyer, and I could not find Sonia or Anita, so I went to the Sorbonne alone and located Dr. Allendy’s lecture hall. The square Amphithéâtre MicheletContinue reading “From Book 3: The Lecture at the Sorbonne”
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.”
