Huge snowflakes fell, crisp and glittering, etching the trees and the railings and the eaves in silver for a brief and fragile dusting. It was very cold, unusually so, and the slush on the sidewalks had turned to ice. “This is rare for Paris,” Louis remarked. “The first time I saw snow I was threeContinue reading “From Book 2: Youki”
Author Archives: nonpersonne
From Book 3: Cécile and Sacrifice
NOTE: This scene is based on a section of Cecile Schramme’s memoirs, Souvenirs familiers sur Antonin Artaud, Messidor, 1980 Rene Thomas’s studio was a workshop with a skylight and wooden stairs leading to a loft with bedrooms and a bathroom. He and Sonia shared the workshop, although she also had a small working spaceContinue reading “From Book 3: Cécile and Sacrifice”
From Book 1: I Hang These Words in Flesh
“You know, Geoff, if you really hate the idea of living with your folks,” Roger commented, “you could get a place of your own, around here. You’d have plenty of company. We’re all trying to escape our families.” “That’s for sure,” murmured Justine. I mulled this over as we passed a smallContinue reading “From Book 1: I Hang These Words in Flesh”
From Book 3: Paul!
I passed the Coupole, then the Dôme, looking in each for anyone I knew. Seeing no one, I continued down the boulevard and walked without purpose, enjoying the darkness that stretched above me. “Monsieur Weidmann!” It was a familiar woman’s voice. I turned and saw the face of Lise Deharme as she hurried up toContinue reading “From Book 3: Paul!”
From Book 1 : Funeral
“Look,” I said, standing up, “I’m going for a walk. I—I need to think.” My father started to protest again. “This is my life and my problem,” I continued, drowning him out. “Back off!” As I walked out, I caught a glimpse of Franz and Catherine sitting at the table in the dining room,Continue reading “From Book 1 : Funeral”
Excerpt from Book 4: Jacques Prevel
Someone sat down on the bench next to me and I whirled, thinking it was Artaud, who I feared and hoped had it in for me after all my spying. However, it was only that young friend of his, Jacques Prével, the impoverished poet with the bony, useless mistress and the new baby byContinue reading “Excerpt from Book 4: Jacques Prevel”
Excerpt from Book 1: Robert Desnos
There were voices outside and someone pounded on the door. Desnos answered it and let in a group of five or so friends. Before any introductions could begin more people walked right in, so he left the door open to the warm night air. Some of the people I recognized from the theatre thisContinue reading “Excerpt from Book 1: Robert Desnos”
Link: Caws on Barber on Artaud
Mary Ann Caws is one of the best sources on the lives of Robert Desnos, Antonin Artaud, Andre Breton, and other surrealists and former surrealists. Here she reviews a book by another amazing scholar of Artaud, Stephen Barber. Antonin Artaud: Terminal Curses: The Notebooks, 1945-48 by Stephen Barber
Excerpt from Book 1: Pain
Artaud stood gazing around and I sat gawking as well at this cavernous cathedral. It was so huge, so lofty, much larger than Saint Stephen’s in Vienna, and Saint Stephen’s had no flying buttresses. This place had double buttresses with open tracery that extended from the seven-sided apse. The building’s grace was hardly interruptedContinue reading “Excerpt from Book 1: Pain”
Excerpt from Book 1: Meeting Justine
We ended up in Louis’s small, squalid apartment somewhere on the rue Blomet in a seedy little quarter far from the fashionable districts. Louis gave Roger no money but shared with us bread, cheese, and wine, and allowed us to play with his canvas and paints. While stuffing ourselves and passing around the wineContinue reading “Excerpt from Book 1: Meeting Justine”
The Double 