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Lost Profiles: Memoirs of Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism
Poet Alan Bernheimer provides a long overdue English translation of this French literary classic—Lost Profiles is a retrospective of a crucial period in modernism, written by co-founder of the Surrealist Movement. Opening with a reminiscence of the international Dada movement in the late 1910s and its transformation into the beginnings of surrealism, Lost Profiles then proceeds to usher its readers into encounters with a variety of literary lions. We meet an elegant Marcel Proust, renting five adjoining rooms at an expensive hotel to "contain" the silence needed to produce Remembrance of Things Past; an exhausted James Joyce putting himself through grueling translation sessions for Finnegans Wake; and an enigmatic Apollinaire in search of the ultimate objet trouvé. Soupault sketches lively portraits of surrealist precursors like Pierre Reverdy and Blaise Cendrars, a moving account of his tragic fellow surrealist René Crevel, and the story of his unlikely friendship with right-wing anti-Vichy critic George Bernanos. The collection ends with essays on two modernist forerunners, Charles Baudelaire and Henri Rousseau. With an afterword by Ron Padgett recounting his meeting with Soupault in the mid 70's and a preface by André Breton biographer Mark Polizzotti, Lost Profiles confirms Soupault's place in the vanguard of twentieth-century literature.
"Philippe Soupault was a central figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements but throughout his long life walked under no banner except the one of artistic freedom. In this previously untranslated book, he gives us a collection of richly remembered portraits of some of his best-loved friends from the old days of the new modernism. As a glimpse into that time, these lost portraits are invaluable—and often deeply moving."—Paul Auster, author of Report from the Interior
"Reading Alan Bernheimer's splendid translation of Soupault's memoir, I forgot that it was a translation, that it was Soupault writing or talking about another time, about his friends of one century past. I read myself into these vivid and virile (so, sue me!) assaults on time, and Time stopped."—Andrei Codrescu, author of The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess
"Philippe Soupault was present at the creation of both Dada and Surrealism—collaborating with André Breton to produce The Magnetic Fields, the first book of automatic writing—before going his own way as a poet, novelist, and journalist. In this present volume, Soupault's fierce independence, deep wit, and generous heart shine through a set of sharply observed portraits of European writers—fellow geniuses, most of them known to him personally. Alan Bernheimer's fine translation allows Soupault's vibrant voice to come to life in our time, and to reanimate in turn some of the greatest spirits of the past century's literature—a marvelous and much-needed apparition."—Andrew Joron, author of Trance Archive: New and Selected Poems
"In this dazzling book—adroitly, smoothly & accurately translated by poet Alan Bernheimer—poet & co-founder of Surrealism Philippe Soupault trains his great secret eye & ear to auscultate an astounding range of core 20th century literary figures he knew personally. And does so with serenity, humor & profound insight. Like none of the academic histories covering this period, no matter how well written and documented, this book makes you say as you devour it: 'Wish I had been there.' Enough said, I’m going to call René Crevel right now."—Pierre Joris, author of Barzakh: Poems 2000-2012
Philippe Soupault (1897-1990) served in the French army during WWI and subsequently joined the Dada movement. In 1919, he collaborated with André Breton on the automatic text Les Champs magnétiques, launching the surrealist movement. In the years that followed, he wrote novels and journalism, directed Radio Tunis in Tunisia, and worked for UNESCO.
"Philippe Soupault was a central figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements but throughout his long life walked under no banner except the one of artistic freedom. In this previously untranslated book, he gives us a collection of richly remembered portraits of some of his best-loved friends from the old days of the new modernism. As a glimpse into that time, these lost portraits are invaluable—and often deeply moving."—Paul Auster, author of Report from the Interior
"Reading Alan Bernheimer's splendid translation of Soupault's memoir, I forgot that it was a translation, that it was Soupault writing or talking about another time, about his friends of one century past. I read myself into these vivid and virile (so, sue me!) assaults on time, and Time stopped."—Andrei Codrescu, author of The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess
"Philippe Soupault was present at the creation of both Dada and Surrealism—collaborating with André Breton to produce The Magnetic Fields, the first book of automatic writing—before going his own way as a poet, novelist, and journalist. In this present volume, Soupault's fierce independence, deep wit, and generous heart shine through a set of sharply observed portraits of European writers—fellow geniuses, most of them known to him personally. Alan Bernheimer's fine translation allows Soupault's vibrant voice to come to life in our time, and to reanimate in turn some of the greatest spirits of the past century's literature—a marvelous and much-needed apparition."—Andrew Joron, author of Trance Archive: New and Selected Poems
"In this dazzling book—adroitly, smoothly & accurately translated by poet Alan Bernheimer—poet & co-founder of Surrealism Philippe Soupault trains his great secret eye & ear to auscultate an astounding range of core 20th century literary figures he knew personally. And does so with serenity, humor & profound insight. Like none of the academic histories covering this period, no matter how well written and documented, this book makes you say as you devour it: 'Wish I had been there.' Enough said, I’m going to call René Crevel right now."—Pierre Joris, author of Barzakh: Poems 2000-2012
Philippe Soupault (1897-1990) served in the French army during WWI and subsequently joined the Dada movement. In 1919, he collaborated with André Breton on the automatic text Les Champs magnétiques, launching the surrealist movement. In the years that followed, he wrote novels and journalism, directed Radio Tunis in Tunisia, and worked for UNESCO.
118 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 1963
3 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
About the author
Philippe Soupault
137 books54 followersPhilippe Soupault was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He took an active role in the Dadaist movement and later founded the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault founded the periodical Littérature together with the writers Breton and Louis Aragon in Paris 1919, which, for many, dates the beginnings of Surrealism. The first book of automatic writing, Les champs magnétiques (1920), was co-authored by Soupault and Breton. After imprisonment by the Nazis in World War II, Soupault traveled to the United States but subsequently returned to France. His works include such fat volumes of poetry as Aquarium (1917) and Rose des vents [compass card] (1920) and the novel Les Dernières Nuits de Paris (1928; tr. Last Nights of Paris, 1929).
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 27, 2016
Philippe Soupault is one of my favorite writers. A member of the Surrealist world, with a touch of DADA, is a remarkable poet, as well as a prose artist. I also read his remarkable memoir of his years in the French Residence, called "Age of the Assassins" (which needs to be re-printed - NYRB please do so). "Lost Profiles" is a series of Soupault's remembrances of various friends, who happened to be iconic writers such as Apollinaire, René Crevel (underrated poet), Proust, Joyce, Georges Bernanos, Reverdy, Cendrars, and a critical essay on Baudelaire's poetry, plus an appreciation on the artist Henri Rousseau. A short and very sweet, but thoughtful book on the nature of these writers, and what makes them great. The fact that Soupault had a long life, and actually knew Apollinaire and Proust is mind boggling incredible. I'm almost star-struck just by reading this book. Beautifully translated by the poet Alan Bernheimer, with an introduction by Mark Polizzotti and an afterword by Ron Padgett, this is basically a must- read for those who have an interest in the European avant-garde of the early 20th century.
August 7, 2025
Yalnızca bir dönemin tanıklığı değil; aynı zamanda kültürel belleğe açılan bir geçit gibi. Fransız edebiyat ve sanat çevrelerinin “görünmeyen” yönlerini, günlük yaşamla iç içe geçmiş, kahvelerde, sokaklarda, atölyelerde yaşanmış karşılaşmalarla örüyor Soupault. Bu kitap, benim için sadece bir anılar silsilesi değil; bir dönemi, o dönemin insanlarını, kayıtsızlıklarını, tutkularını ve çelişkilerini tüm çıplaklığıyla gösteren bir dürbün işlevi gördü.
En etkileyici bölümlerden biri, Henri Rousseau’ya dair anlatılanlar. Gümrük memurluğundan ressamlığa uzanan bu sıra dışı adamın, sanat çevrelerince nasıl küçümsendiğini, tuhaflığıyla alay edildiğini, kimi zaman bir ayyaş gibi lanse edilerek kenara itildiğini okumak hem üzücü hem de düşündürücüydü. Soupault’nun gözlemiyle, Rousseau yalnızca bir figür değil; sanatın dışladığı, ama zamanın hak verdiği bir direnişin sembolü gibi çıkıyor karşımıza. Bugün bile sanat tarihinde onun hâlâ "tuhaf" sıfatıyla anılması, bu dışlayıcı bakışın ne kadar kalıcı olduğunu gösteriyor.
Benzer bir yoğunluk Charles Baudelaire bölümlerinde de hissediliyor. Afyonun pençesindeki bir şair, karanlık imgelerle dolu bir edebiyat, ve buna rağmen büyük bir estetik... Soupault’nun anlatımı, Baudelaire’in sanatçı kimliğini bir mit olmaktan çıkarıp, insanî kırılganlıklarıyla birlikte sunuyor. O puslu Paris sokaklarında dolaşan gölgelerin ardında, yalnızca şiir değil, bağımlılık, öfke, yalnızlık ve direniş de var.
Kitap boyunca adı pek duyulmamış, hatta benim için tamamen yeni olan ressam ve yazarlarla karşılaşmak da bana Frankofon kültürünü başka bir gözle tanıma fırsatı verdi. Çünkü büyük isimlerin arkasında, çoğu zaman anılmayan bir çevre, bir soluk, bir direniş halkası da bulunuyor. Soupault’nun bu detayları ihmal etmemesi, kitabı bir anı metninden çok daha fazlasına dönüştürüyor.
Ben kitaplarda bu tür farklı bakış açılarını, kenarda kalmış hikâyeleri, büyük anlatıların arasında unutulmuş figürleri okumayı seviyorum. Görünmeyen Yönleriyle, tam da böyle bir kitap. Ne büyük laflar ederek anlatıyor ne de nostaljiye kapılarak... Sade ama keskin bir bakışla, dönemin iç yüzünü, insan ilişkilerinin karmaşasını ve sanatın aslında nasıl da kırılgan bir zeminde durduğunu gözler önüne seriyor.
En etkileyici bölümlerden biri, Henri Rousseau’ya dair anlatılanlar. Gümrük memurluğundan ressamlığa uzanan bu sıra dışı adamın, sanat çevrelerince nasıl küçümsendiğini, tuhaflığıyla alay edildiğini, kimi zaman bir ayyaş gibi lanse edilerek kenara itildiğini okumak hem üzücü hem de düşündürücüydü. Soupault’nun gözlemiyle, Rousseau yalnızca bir figür değil; sanatın dışladığı, ama zamanın hak verdiği bir direnişin sembolü gibi çıkıyor karşımıza. Bugün bile sanat tarihinde onun hâlâ "tuhaf" sıfatıyla anılması, bu dışlayıcı bakışın ne kadar kalıcı olduğunu gösteriyor.
Benzer bir yoğunluk Charles Baudelaire bölümlerinde de hissediliyor. Afyonun pençesindeki bir şair, karanlık imgelerle dolu bir edebiyat, ve buna rağmen büyük bir estetik... Soupault’nun anlatımı, Baudelaire’in sanatçı kimliğini bir mit olmaktan çıkarıp, insanî kırılganlıklarıyla birlikte sunuyor. O puslu Paris sokaklarında dolaşan gölgelerin ardında, yalnızca şiir değil, bağımlılık, öfke, yalnızlık ve direniş de var.
Kitap boyunca adı pek duyulmamış, hatta benim için tamamen yeni olan ressam ve yazarlarla karşılaşmak da bana Frankofon kültürünü başka bir gözle tanıma fırsatı verdi. Çünkü büyük isimlerin arkasında, çoğu zaman anılmayan bir çevre, bir soluk, bir direniş halkası da bulunuyor. Soupault’nun bu detayları ihmal etmemesi, kitabı bir anı metninden çok daha fazlasına dönüştürüyor.
Ben kitaplarda bu tür farklı bakış açılarını, kenarda kalmış hikâyeleri, büyük anlatıların arasında unutulmuş figürleri okumayı seviyorum. Görünmeyen Yönleriyle, tam da böyle bir kitap. Ne büyük laflar ederek anlatıyor ne de nostaljiye kapılarak... Sade ama keskin bir bakışla, dönemin iç yüzünü, insan ilişkilerinin karmaşasını ve sanatın aslında nasıl da kırılgan bir zeminde durduğunu gözler önüne seriyor.
December 19, 2018
Really the only Dada or Surrealist mentioned in this charming memoir is the author Soupault. Despite that, it is worth reading for Soupault's take on authors and artists- those who were his contemporaries and his friends.
October 19, 2017
A short but interesting book. Make that a really interesting book.
He does a wonderful job of conveying "the feel" of the early Dada and Surrealist era. But is not quite right to think of it as a Dadaist or Surrealist memoir, really the book is about meeting and knowing really, really interesting people. In fact aside from some repeated references to the importance of poetry and a bit about how dreams are special, it isn’t about these wacky “movements” at all.
I don’t know much about Dadaism or surrealism, other than the one snippet I remember of Luis Bunuel’s autobiography I read back in the 1980’s. He was going to America to work on movies there and he was put on trial in by the surrealist court (in absenstia I think). Anyway after that I figured they were mostly a bunch of jerks who thought way too much of themselves.
Yeah, Soupault seems wistful for the people not the moments bit it still made me wish I was young and talented and part of some wave that felt like we are changing the world. But since that just isn’t me, it was fun to get a little glimpse of that exuberance. But to repeat myself, it is his meetings with fascinating people that make this worth reading
One interesting anecdote about James Joyce and his movie going habit...
When he had decided to attend the theater, he would choose a companion, refuse to dine (I am preparing for a sacrament, he told me, to explain this fasting). PG 49
Interesting, and couldn't be more different from trending movement for more of a Movie Grill kind of experience.
And now some more quotes…
René Crevel was indeed one of those whom it can be said that they have lost their illusions. But it did not make him bitter. He knew how to amuse himself, especially about human beings. He was indignant at their weaknesses, yet he rejoiced in their peculiarities, and his admiration for madmen was extreme. He took pleasure in the company of the cranks and dreamers who were happily fairly numerous in Paris. pg. 34
(On Crevel’s charm)...All I wish to recall is that, from the moment you saw Crevel or spoke to him, you knew you were in the presence of someone different, and I use this word in the its strongest sense. He was, it’s easy to say now, determined to direct his destiny so as not to succumb to the facile, the banal in literary milieus, to success at any price.
Pg. 35
James Joyce...for the reader who is no longer indifferent, but engaged with the author, it is important to read Dubliners before Portrait, then at last begin Ulysses, and end with Finnegan’s Wake. To repeat, Joyce created a world, and this world is accessible to us only if we humbly obey the wishes of the author. Pg.45
(on Joyce meeting with friends)...In these little gatherings, the author of Ulysses wanted only to reconnect. Every creature has an inhuman side, and suffers from feeling, on the outside, at a distance from other beings and everyday life. His comrades, jostling him, drawing him close, forced him to their level. That is why he demanded their sincerity and forbade deference, ceremonies, and snobbism. PG 51
(on Blaise Cendrars)...Every opportunity for him was a good one. That’s how he taught me - and I’ve never been able to forget it - that have to live poetry before you write it; writing, that was superfluous. I can’t help thinking this was the period when Blaise Cendrars most brilliantly manifested his genius. PG 79
Now back to me...
I hope I get around to investigating some these cool people.
He does a wonderful job of conveying "the feel" of the early Dada and Surrealist era. But is not quite right to think of it as a Dadaist or Surrealist memoir, really the book is about meeting and knowing really, really interesting people. In fact aside from some repeated references to the importance of poetry and a bit about how dreams are special, it isn’t about these wacky “movements” at all.
I don’t know much about Dadaism or surrealism, other than the one snippet I remember of Luis Bunuel’s autobiography I read back in the 1980’s. He was going to America to work on movies there and he was put on trial in by the surrealist court (in absenstia I think). Anyway after that I figured they were mostly a bunch of jerks who thought way too much of themselves.
Yeah, Soupault seems wistful for the people not the moments bit it still made me wish I was young and talented and part of some wave that felt like we are changing the world. But since that just isn’t me, it was fun to get a little glimpse of that exuberance. But to repeat myself, it is his meetings with fascinating people that make this worth reading
One interesting anecdote about James Joyce and his movie going habit...
When he had decided to attend the theater, he would choose a companion, refuse to dine (I am preparing for a sacrament, he told me, to explain this fasting). PG 49
Interesting, and couldn't be more different from trending movement for more of a Movie Grill kind of experience.
And now some more quotes…
René Crevel was indeed one of those whom it can be said that they have lost their illusions. But it did not make him bitter. He knew how to amuse himself, especially about human beings. He was indignant at their weaknesses, yet he rejoiced in their peculiarities, and his admiration for madmen was extreme. He took pleasure in the company of the cranks and dreamers who were happily fairly numerous in Paris. pg. 34
(On Crevel’s charm)...All I wish to recall is that, from the moment you saw Crevel or spoke to him, you knew you were in the presence of someone different, and I use this word in the its strongest sense. He was, it’s easy to say now, determined to direct his destiny so as not to succumb to the facile, the banal in literary milieus, to success at any price.
Pg. 35
James Joyce...for the reader who is no longer indifferent, but engaged with the author, it is important to read Dubliners before Portrait, then at last begin Ulysses, and end with Finnegan’s Wake. To repeat, Joyce created a world, and this world is accessible to us only if we humbly obey the wishes of the author. Pg.45
(on Joyce meeting with friends)...In these little gatherings, the author of Ulysses wanted only to reconnect. Every creature has an inhuman side, and suffers from feeling, on the outside, at a distance from other beings and everyday life. His comrades, jostling him, drawing him close, forced him to their level. That is why he demanded their sincerity and forbade deference, ceremonies, and snobbism. PG 51
(on Blaise Cendrars)...Every opportunity for him was a good one. That’s how he taught me - and I’ve never been able to forget it - that have to live poetry before you write it; writing, that was superfluous. I can’t help thinking this was the period when Blaise Cendrars most brilliantly manifested his genius. PG 79
Now back to me...
I hope I get around to investigating some these cool people.
December 18, 2022
Wondrous.
January 28, 2017
Though this is a slim volume, the insight into the personalities invovled in the Dada, Cubism and Surrealist movements is quite powerful. Having read numerous books about this era, it is easy to forget that behind the history and the myths of modernist culture there are real people. Soupault talks not only about how the writers and artists worked, but also about how they were friends and how desperate their living conditions could be. A very intelligent and satisfying book.
July 14, 2024
Ein kurzes Buch für zwischendurch, wenn man sich für die französischen Künstler der Dada- Bewegung, und des Surrealismus interessiert.
Philippe (selbst bedeutender Name in des Surrealismus) erzählt hier auf sehr persönlicher Ebene von seinen Künstler-Freunden. Seine Bewunderung für seine Freunde zu sehen und seinen Beobachtungen zu folgen, macht es zu einem herzlichen Projekt. Er schafft es die Skurrilität und Individualität sehr gut festzuhalten, was zu einem kurzweiligen Lesevergnügen führt. Da ich jedoch die Künstler kaum bis gar nicht kannte, kann ich den Wert der Perspektive nicht zur Gänze wertschätzen.
Zusammenfassend ein kurzweiliges Vergnügen, dass mir die Kunstwelt ein Stückchen mehr geöffnet hat, und mein Verlangen James Joyce zu lesen noch einmal angefeuert hat…auch wenn ich mir jetzt sehr sicher bin, dass ich es nicht mal im Ansatz verstehen werde.
Danke Philippe
7/10 📖
Philippe (selbst bedeutender Name in des Surrealismus) erzählt hier auf sehr persönlicher Ebene von seinen Künstler-Freunden. Seine Bewunderung für seine Freunde zu sehen und seinen Beobachtungen zu folgen, macht es zu einem herzlichen Projekt. Er schafft es die Skurrilität und Individualität sehr gut festzuhalten, was zu einem kurzweiligen Lesevergnügen führt. Da ich jedoch die Künstler kaum bis gar nicht kannte, kann ich den Wert der Perspektive nicht zur Gänze wertschätzen.
Zusammenfassend ein kurzweiliges Vergnügen, dass mir die Kunstwelt ein Stückchen mehr geöffnet hat, und mein Verlangen James Joyce zu lesen noch einmal angefeuert hat…auch wenn ich mir jetzt sehr sicher bin, dass ich es nicht mal im Ansatz verstehen werde.
Danke Philippe
7/10 📖
Read
July 30, 2022Despite the title, the writings here are neither all about cubists/dadaists/surrealists, nor all memoirs. James Joyce and Marcel Proust appear, memorably, and the last two pieces are charming essays on Henri Rousseau and Charles Baudelaire.
That said, the book's attraction is its evocation of an artistic time period. Full of anecdotes, nice little sketches in prose. The introduction notes that it's at times only loosely true, but nonetheless. Slight, pleasant.
That said, the book's attraction is its evocation of an artistic time period. Full of anecdotes, nice little sketches in prose. The introduction notes that it's at times only loosely true, but nonetheless. Slight, pleasant.
May 27, 2021
Another great example of why I champion the "surrealist" writers above all else. Humanity and art become one in Soupaults kind recollections, a rather slim volume that didn't overblow itself with lofty prose. Somehow the surrealists seemed more grounded in an honest reality than the existentialists soon to follow.
December 19, 2020
Nefis bir hatırat tavsiye ederim
Özellikle 1. Dünya savaşı sonrasında sanat ve edebiyat dünyasının duayenlerinden bahsetmesi çok hoş
Özellikle 1. Dünya savaşı sonrasında sanat ve edebiyat dünyasının duayenlerinden bahsetmesi çok hoş
December 23, 2020
Personal portraits of several of Philippe Soupault’s friends tanging from those involved in cubism, dada, surrealism and beyond. Makes a fine companion to the Banquet Years.
March 15, 2022
Kinda bleh but the chapter on Proust was terrific
March 2, 2025
hepsini ama en çok marcel proust'u ve gümrükçü henry rousseau'yu soupalt'tan dinlemek ve yazarın dadaizm akımına dahil oluş hikayesini kendi kaleminden öğrenmek çok güzeldi.
August 6, 2025
soupault talks about his memories of various VERY FAMOUS AUTHORS whom i LOVE so its good for that, i skipped the people i dont really know yet. but lovely to hear about rene crevel, apollinaire, proust, joyce, etc. goal is to be able to write something like this when im old SHIT
December 3, 2025
This book, being as intimate as it is about these men made me question some things internally about myself, which may be a rare reaction. Quite enjoyable
July 13, 2017
I first read Philippe Soupault in a class on Dada and Surrealism in the French Dept at GWU, it was one of the best classes I have ever taken, and I have taken a lot of classes. So when I saw this wonderful book that City Lights published last year, I had to read it. And it is a delight. If you have any interest in the period, the Dada and Surrealist movements, or just want to be charmed, read this!
April 29, 2017
This is like reading surrealist fan fiction. Of course I want to know what Apollinaire, Joyce, and Proust were like in their personal lives. In these vignettes of impressions, you also get a sense of Soupault, similar to how Bolano's The Savage Detectives in that it is an autobiography, decentralized from the subject and focused on other people in his sphere. His prose is full of affection, honesty, and tenderness too, really illustrating the Modern era and the people who made it so.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews