Surrealist, Lover, Resistant Read online

  SURREALIST

  LOVER

  RESISTANT

  Published by Arc Publications,

  Nanholme Mill, Shaw Wood Road

  Todmorden OL14 6DA, UK

  www.arcpublications.co.uk

  Copyright in original text © Éditions Gallimard

  Translation copyright © Timothy Adès, 2017

  Copyright in the present edition © Arc Publications 2017

  978 1906570 69 9 (pbk)

  978 1908376 77 1 (ebk)

  978 1906570 95 8 (hbk)

  Cover design by Tony Ward

  This volume would not have seen the light of day but for the generosity of a large number of people who made a financial contribution towards the cost of its production through the Kickstarter programme. The publishers are deeply grateful to all those who have made publication possible. A list of sponsors appears at the end of this volume.

  This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part of this book may take place without the written permission of Arc Publications.

  Arc Classics:

  New Translations of Great Poets of the Past

  Series Editor: Jean Boase-Beier

  Robert Desnos

  SURREALIST

  LOVER

  RESISTANT

  COLLECTED POEMS

  Translated and introduced by

  Timothy Adès

  2017

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The translator gratefully acknowledges Mme Marie-Claire Dumas and Éditions Gallimard, for excerpts from her commentary on ‘Against the Grain’ and ‘The Bath With Andromeda’, in Œuvres (1999, pp. 1156-7); Éditions Gallimard, for ‘Crépuscule d’Été’ and ‘L’Étoile du Matin’, both in Destinée Arbitraire, and all other poems in Œuvres, 1999.

  Thanks are due to the editors of the following publications, in which some of these translations have appeared: Acumen 50 (‘That Lovely Woman’); A Dada Reader (Tate: from Rrose Sélavy: ‘Elegant Canticle of Salomé Salomon’); Agenda 45 (‘Beautiful After-Midnight’, ‘The Voice of Robert Desnos’); Agenda 46/3 (‘The Legacy’); Agenda 50/1-2 (‘Robert the Devil’ – poem by Louis Aragon); Centres of Cataclysm (Bloodaxe Books / MPT: ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Springtime’); Comparative Criticism 25 (‘Contrée’); Essential Poems and Writings of Robert Desnos (Black Widow Press: 3 poems from ‘Contrée’ – ‘The River’, ‘The Summer Night’, ‘The Voice’); In Other Words (3 poems from ‘Contrée’ – ‘The Countryside’, ‘The Harvest’, ‘The Equinox’); Journal of the Centre for Research into Surrealism (‘Rrose Sélavy’, ‘Ballad of Fantomas’); Long Poem Magazine 5 (‘The Ode to Coco’); Magma 36 (part of ‘Flint and Fire’); Modern Poetry in Translation (‘I’ve dreamed so much’, ‘No, Love is not dead’, ‘Never Another’, ‘Blind’, ‘Beautiful After-Midnight’, ‘The Poem to Florence’, ‘Bagatelles’, ‘Ballad of the Wine-glass’, ‘Ballad of the Butcher’, ‘Seasons’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Springtime’); Outposts (‘The Countryside’); PN Review 200 (‘The Dream in a Cellar’, ‘Morning Star’, ‘Woman Be Serious’, ‘At Dawn’, ‘Cease from Crying Calixto’, ‘Tale of Fol-Fan-Fifer’); Poetry Review (‘The Friday of the Crime’), Salzburg Poetry Review 22, 2012 (‘Handkerchiefs at the Nadir’, ‘Cold Throats’); The High Window (‘Phantom’, ‘Andromeda Saved’); Translation and Literature (‘Siren-Anemone’, ‘Birth of the Monster’ [from ‘Andromeda’], ‘The Escaper’).

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Robert Desnos Timeline

  POEMS 1915-1922

  Aquarelle

  •

  Watercolour

  Casqués du Heaume

  •

  In Helmet

  de Dédication / from Dedication

  Dédicace

  •

  Dedication

  Ici on Peut Apporter

  •

  Bring Your Own

  Mon Tombeau

  •

  My Tomb

  Cuisine Bourgeoise

  •

  High-Class Cuisine

  Il est Interdit de Cracher

  •

  No Spitting

  Aux Petits Oignons

  •

  All the Trimmings

  Cocktail Couleur Tango

  •

  Tango-Coloured Cocktail

  Neuve Jeunesse

  •

  Earliest Youth

  Prospectus

  •

  Prospectus

  L’Ode à Coco

  •

  The Ode to Coco

  SURREALIST

  WORDS PLAY, WORDS MAKE LOVE 1922-1926

  Translator’s note

  Rrose Sélavy

  •

  Rrose Sélavy

  de L’Aumonyme / from Alms And The Pun

  En Attendant

  •

  Waiting

  Les Moules des Mers

  •

  A Mariner’s Mussels

  Ail de ton Œil

  •

  GarLicquor-Eyes

  Nos Tâches Tachent

  •

  Our Toil Spoils

  Plutôt Se Pendre

  •

  Go Hang

  Mords le Mors

  •

  Bite the Bitter Bit

  Plus que la Nuit Nue

  •

  More Than Nude Night

  Mes Chants

  •

  My Ditties

  L’An Est Si Lent

  •

  The Year Drags

  Tant d’Or

  •

  Pots of Gold

  L’Art est le Dieu Lare

  •

  Art: Dear Little God

  Les Chats Hauts

  •

  Cats Up On Castles

  Les Mûres Sont Mûres

  •

  Blackberries Burgeon

  Vos Bouches Mentent

 
•

  Your Lips Lie

  Les Ponts

  •

  The Bridges

  P’Oasis

  •

  Poesy’s P’Oasis

  Dialogue

  •

  Dialogue

  de Langage Cuit / from Cooked Speech

  Élégant Cantique de Salomé Salomon

  •

  Elegant Canticle of Salomé Salomon

  Un Jour Qu’il Faisait Nuit

  •

  One Day when it was Night

  La Colombe de l’Arche

  •

  Dove of the Ark

  de C’est les Bottes de Sept Lieues Cette Phrase «Je Me Vois» / from That Line “I See Myself”is Seven-League Boots

  Les Gorges Froides

  •

  Cold Throats

  LOVER – YVONNE GEORGE

  HOPELESS LOVE 1926-7

  Translator’s note

  À La Mystérieuse / To The Woman of Mystery 1926

  Ô Douleurs de l’Amour!

  •

  You Pangs of Love!

  J’ai Tant Rêvé de Toi

  •

  I’ve Dreamed of You so Much

  Non l’Amour n’est pas Mort

  •

  No, Love is not Dead

  Comme une Main…

  •

  Just as a Hand…

  À la Faveur de la Nuit

  •

  Under Cover of Night

  Les Ténèbres / Shadows 1927

  La Voix de Robert Desnos

  •

  The Voice of Robert Desnos

  Infinitif

  •

  Infinitive

  Le Vendredi du Crime

  •

  The Friday of the Crime

  Chant du Ciel

  •

  Sky Song

  Jamais d’Autre que Toi

  •

  Never Another but You

  De la Rose de Marbre à la Rose de Fer

  •

  From the Marble Rose to the Iron Rose

  TIME OF CONFLICT

  WITHOUT YVONNE, WITHOUT ANDRÉ BRETON 1929-30

  Translator’s note

  Sirène-Anémone

  •

  Siren-Anemone

  L’Aveugle

  •

  Blind

  Mouchoirs au Nadir

  •

  Handkerchiefs at the Nadir

  De Silex Et De Feu

  •

  Flint And Fire

  Le Poème À Florence

  •

  The Poem To Florence

  The Night of Loveless Nights

  •

  The Night of Loveless Nights

  LOVER – YOUKI FOUJITA

  POEMS 1930-32

  Youki 1930 Poésie / Youki 1930 Poetry

  Fontaine

  •

  Fountain

  Soir

  •

  Evening

  À l’Aube

  •

  At Dawn

  Nuits

  •

  Nights

  Le Loup

  •

  The Wolf

  Mourir

  •

  Dying

  Le Bel Après-Minuit

  •

  Beautiful After-Midnight

  La Rose au Bord de Seine

  •

  The Rose by the Seine

  Pas Vu Ça

  •

  Didn’t See That

  Le Rêve dans une Cave

  •

  The Dream in a Cellar

  L’Oiseau Mécanique

  •

  The Mechanical Bird

  La Chanson du Petit Jour

  •

  Daybreak Song

  Le Beau Jardin

  •

  The Beautiful Garden

  Chant des Cent Mille

  •

  Song of the Million

  Pierre à Pierre

  •

  Stone to Stone

  Sur la Route

  •

  On the Road

  Le Mort Qui Parle

  •

  Dead Man Speaking

  Dans un Petit Bateau

  •

  In a Little Boat

  Nuits Blanches / White Nights

  La Belle Que Voilà

  •

  That Lovely Woman

  Ma Sirène

  •

  My Mermaid

  Littérature

  •

  Literature

  Seconde Chanson de la Fleur de Souci

  •

  Second Song of the Worrygold

  Soyons Sérieuse

  •

  Woman, Be Serious

  Bonjour Bonsoir

  •

  Good Morning Good Evening

  Histoire de Folfanfifre

  •

  Tale of Fol-Fan-Fifer

 
Mon Amour Parle-Moi

  •

  My Love Speak to Me

  Lou la Requine

  •

  Shark-Woman Lou

  Conte de Fée

  •

  Fairy Tale

  Chanson-Caillou

  •

  Pebble-Song

  Ô Jeunesse

  •

  Days of Youth

  Bagatelles / Bagatelles

  Bagatelles

  •

  Bagatelles

  Le Nuage

  •

  The Cloud