Author Archives: nonpersonne

From Book 1: Roulette

            Buy book one, Traitor Comet! That night, the women declared their own revolution.             “No!” Justine proclaimed with relish as she sat in the dining room drinking coffee with Genica. She and Genica talked over each other as a rumpled Louis stared at them from the doorway. “We’re not going to cook supper forContinue reading “From Book 1: Roulette”

From Book 2: Conflicts

            Artaud’s own hair, neatly slicked back earlier, had slid loose because of the heat and now hung around his face. It looked strange, for his hair still had a few centimeters to grow until it attained the length it had been a year ago; it fell only to his cheekbones, a chestnut bowl ofContinue reading “From Book 2: Conflicts”

From Book 4: Another Way

            It was at the Dôme, Artaud’s favorite haunt, that a ghost caught up with me. I was already in a particularly wretched mood that evening when my gaze suddenly lifted from the table to lock with a twin pair of eyes, with familiar but never-before-seen blue-green accusation from the face of Marie-Ange Mallausséna. IContinue reading “From Book 4: Another Way”

From Book 2: Car Thief

            “Don’t mind him. He’s had too much to drink,” I interjected, rising from my place on the floor to go to the fireplace. “Again.” I threw on anther log and surreptitiously dragged a finger across my throat at Desnos. He merely beamed at the murderous glare I gave him. As I turned back toContinue reading “From Book 2: Car Thief”

From Book 3: Tall Enough

Breton’s anger was further stoked when The Enigma of William Tell won the right to be displayed at the Salon des Indépendants in the Grand Palais. Surrealists were not supposed to enter contests, much less win them and have their works hung in museums. Breton issued an order for Dali to appear at his apartmentContinue reading “From Book 3: Tall Enough”

From Book 1: Men versus Women, Part One

            Buy book one, Traitor Comet! “You’re all right,” Desnos said. “You need something in your stomach, that’s all.” He turned and raised a finger to signal a waiter while I shriveled in embarrassment. When the plate of bread and cheese was set before me I picked up a hunk of bread and held itContinue reading “From Book 1: Men versus Women, Part One”

From Book 1: What’s Your Idea of Adventure?

Buy book one, Traitor Comet!            Long after I heard Desnos’s heavy breathing in sleep I lay awake, listening to the rain turn the city into layers of chatter like so many synchronized timepieces: the blunt drumming of the houseboat, the slaps on stone, the hollow tinging of a metal roof somewhere. That odd sleepiness, whenContinue reading “From Book 1: What’s Your Idea of Adventure?”

From Book 1: The Surrealist Research Bureau

Buy book one, Traitor Comet! In a small storefront on the rue de Grenelle where the Surrealist Research Bureau made its headquarters, we sat on hard chairs with about a dozen young men in a cramped room, and were subjected to a long and tedious lecture by the founder of the movement, André Breton. HeContinue reading “From Book 1: The Surrealist Research Bureau”

From Book 1: Sleep-Driving

Buy book one, Traitor Comet! JACQUES RIVIERE TO ANTONIN ARTAUD Dear Sir, Something puzzles me: the sharp contrast between the vagueness of your literary efforts and the excruciating precision with which you diagnose your inner erosion. Had I no other evidence, your handwriting—tortured, wavering, as if pulled in by hidden whirlpools—convinces me of the realityContinue reading “From Book 1: Sleep-Driving”