J. Kates's Blog
January 3, 2010
Jean-Pierre Rosnay
(1926 - 2009)
Jean-Pierre Rosnay, born 8 April 1926, in Lyon, died of a pulmonary infection on 19 December 2009 at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, holding his wife's hand. As a teen-ager, he became a hero of the French Resistance. Arrested for attempting to assassinate Klaus Barbie, he escaped from prison, later joined the French army; and, after the War, settled in Paris. He was one of the literary and artistic generation of the 1950s that set the new post-War tone in France — irreverent, "countercultural," but engagé, the heirs of Éluard and Desnos, friends with Cocteau, Queneau and Neruda. There was nothing revolutionary in his poetry — he strove for directness and simplicity — but many of his individual poems are quite powerful, especially those drawn from his experiences in the Resistance; and others quite witty. His passionate commitment to his art expressed itself not just for himself, but culturally: He founded the Club des Poètes (http://www.poesie.net/index.php) in Paris, hosted poetry programs on French radio and television, invented the French Phone-a-Poem service, and pioneered poetry on computer networks. Rosnay once declared as his mission in life "to make poetry contagious and inevitable." He is survived by his wife Marcelle, very much the love of his life, his muse, and "the Egyptian Tsou" of his love poems; and by his children and grandchildren.
From When a Poet Sees a Chestnut Tree (translated by J.Kates)
(http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9781...
J’écris des livres, c’est merveilleux. Je suis un écrivain, cela veut dire qu’il y a des moments où je suis très savant, très adroit, des moments où j’ai des idées rares.
Sous un arbre, il y a une femme qui lit un livre, ce livre c ‘est moi qui l’ai écrit. Qu’est-ce que j’ai bien pu dire?
Sous un arbre, il y a une fille qui lit un livre, ce livre c’est elle qui l’a écrit, c’est l’arbre qui écrit la fille, c’est la fille qui écrit l’arbre.
J’écris, je suis le soleil, je suis l’ombre, je suis l’impudent qui se prend pour le soleil.
La mer rampe à mes pieds, me confie ses projets, la mer me traite en intime. Je suis le seul homme seul, c’est merveilleux, je suis un fou parmi la foule, un innocent petit fou qui se prend pour le soleil et je vais du côté de ma tombe sans crainte, à cloche-pied. Je mourrai et je deviendrai célèbre, en somme je vivrai, je vivrai encore plus fort. En somme, je ne mourrai jamais.
I write books, that's wonderful. I'm a writer, that means there are moments when I'm very wise, very clever, moments when I have exquisitely unique ideas.
Under a tree, there is a woman reading a book, it's a book I wrote. Now, what have I just been able to say?
Under a tree, there is a girl reading a book, it's a book she wrote, it's the tree writing the girl, it's the girl writing the tree.
I write, I am the sun, I am the shade, I am the shameless fellow who takes himself to be the sun.
The sea crawls at my feet, whispers its plans to me, the sea takes me into its confidence. I am the only man alone, it's wonderful, I am a fool in a full crowd, a naive little fool who takes himself for the sun and I pass by my own tomb fearlessly, at a hop. I will die and become famous, that means I will live, live all the more. That means, I will not die ever.
Jean-Pierre Rosnay, born 8 April 1926, in Lyon, died of a pulmonary infection on 19 December 2009 at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, holding his wife's hand. As a teen-ager, he became a hero of the French Resistance. Arrested for attempting to assassinate Klaus Barbie, he escaped from prison, later joined the French army; and, after the War, settled in Paris. He was one of the literary and artistic generation of the 1950s that set the new post-War tone in France — irreverent, "countercultural," but engagé, the heirs of Éluard and Desnos, friends with Cocteau, Queneau and Neruda. There was nothing revolutionary in his poetry — he strove for directness and simplicity — but many of his individual poems are quite powerful, especially those drawn from his experiences in the Resistance; and others quite witty. His passionate commitment to his art expressed itself not just for himself, but culturally: He founded the Club des Poètes (http://www.poesie.net/index.php) in Paris, hosted poetry programs on French radio and television, invented the French Phone-a-Poem service, and pioneered poetry on computer networks. Rosnay once declared as his mission in life "to make poetry contagious and inevitable." He is survived by his wife Marcelle, very much the love of his life, his muse, and "the Egyptian Tsou" of his love poems; and by his children and grandchildren.
From When a Poet Sees a Chestnut Tree (translated by J.Kates)
(http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9781...
J’écris des livres, c’est merveilleux. Je suis un écrivain, cela veut dire qu’il y a des moments où je suis très savant, très adroit, des moments où j’ai des idées rares.
Sous un arbre, il y a une femme qui lit un livre, ce livre c ‘est moi qui l’ai écrit. Qu’est-ce que j’ai bien pu dire?
Sous un arbre, il y a une fille qui lit un livre, ce livre c’est elle qui l’a écrit, c’est l’arbre qui écrit la fille, c’est la fille qui écrit l’arbre.
J’écris, je suis le soleil, je suis l’ombre, je suis l’impudent qui se prend pour le soleil.
La mer rampe à mes pieds, me confie ses projets, la mer me traite en intime. Je suis le seul homme seul, c’est merveilleux, je suis un fou parmi la foule, un innocent petit fou qui se prend pour le soleil et je vais du côté de ma tombe sans crainte, à cloche-pied. Je mourrai et je deviendrai célèbre, en somme je vivrai, je vivrai encore plus fort. En somme, je ne mourrai jamais.
I write books, that's wonderful. I'm a writer, that means there are moments when I'm very wise, very clever, moments when I have exquisitely unique ideas.
Under a tree, there is a woman reading a book, it's a book I wrote. Now, what have I just been able to say?
Under a tree, there is a girl reading a book, it's a book she wrote, it's the tree writing the girl, it's the girl writing the tree.
I write, I am the sun, I am the shade, I am the shameless fellow who takes himself to be the sun.
The sea crawls at my feet, whispers its plans to me, the sea takes me into its confidence. I am the only man alone, it's wonderful, I am a fool in a full crowd, a naive little fool who takes himself for the sun and I pass by my own tomb fearlessly, at a hop. I will die and become famous, that means I will live, live all the more. That means, I will not die ever.
