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
•
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
•
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