During breakfast the clouds gathered together and pelted the house with darkness and drops, a steady rain I could tell would not clear up soon. We dodged raindrops out to the woodpile, stacked up wood beside the hearth in the front room, built a fire in the fireplace and lit the lamps, and resignedContinue reading “From Book 1: Holiday with Artaud and Desnos”
Category Archives: Book 1 – Traitor Comet
From Book 1: Rrose Selavy
Over supper Desnos was enough entertainment for all of us, making up outrageous stories on the spot, encouraging us to drink more wine and then making us laugh until it was painful. However, some of his tales horrified my family as the poet related his involvement in the high jinks of Dada, the movementContinue reading “From Book 1: Rrose Selavy”
From Book 1: Artaud Disturbs People Sometimes
“Bless her,” Justine whispered when Catherine had gone, “she’s so sweet.” She rubbed her eyes. “The cats will have shredded my curtains by tomorrow. That was your brother, wasn’t it? I thought I would faint. Excuse me!” We watched her snatch the nightgown and flee the room after these disjointed statements. Roger gazedContinue reading “From Book 1: Artaud Disturbs People Sometimes”
From Book 1: Men Versus Women, Part 2
Desnos pushed up his glasses and smiled. “You do sound like Breton.” He said it admiringly, and as he did he threw a glance at the back seat. “But I think you’re coming at this question from a different direction. He is more content with himself.” “We’re each approaching the same question fromContinue reading “From Book 1: Men Versus Women, Part 2”
From Book 1: Roulette
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 for you!” “You can starve forContinue reading “From Book 1: Roulette”
From Book 1: Men versus Women, Part One
“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 it to my mouth, chewing automaticallyContinue reading “From Book 1: Men versus Women, Part One”
From Book 1: Lucifer
Desnos was contemplating my blank page, his fingers drumming alongside his jaw. “You’re resisting… In automatic writing you need to speak from your unconscious.” “I know a quicker way to reach my unconscious,” I rasped, and reached for one of the cognac glasses in the middle of the table. I filled it fromContinue reading “From Book 1: Lucifer”
From Book 1: What’s Your Idea of Adventure?
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, when my heart beat hardContinue reading “From Book 1: What’s Your Idea of Adventure?”
From Book 1: Scatterbrained
Finally I entered a small, seedy lunch counter and stood looking around at the crowd, mostly men at the zinc counter, wolfing down eggs. Then I meandered to the back of the place and leaned against the wall next to the small telephone station, where a man with his back to me jabbered intoContinue reading “From Book 1: Scatterbrained”
From Book 1: The Surrealist Research Bureau
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. He seemed a pleasant enoughContinue reading “From Book 1: The Surrealist Research Bureau”
The Double 