What do you think?
The Selected Poems
Book by Kulik, William
207 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1991
About the author
Robert Desnos
141 books115 followersRobert Desnos (4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 19, 2020
I have had this book for 30 years and have just read it? Why did I take so long?! And this, with this cover anyway, is a co-translation with Carolyn Forche, but she seems to have disappeared from all the Goodreads information. Why? But I knew of Desnos. And I think I had known of his dismissal by Breton, but then everyone had been dismissed by Breton sooner or later. I knew of his heroism in the French Resistance and his death in the camps.
But I didn't know the poems, until I read this generous (180 page) selection. What joy! What happiness! The surrealists, despite their claims to humor, always seem so dour to me. So fundamentalist, almost, in their allegiance to a particular view of imagination. Not Desnos. Breton famously dismissed him as "narcissistic" or "solipsistic." But that is almost certainly because he enjoyed life, even in his automatic writing. And he didn't become a communist, when Breton insisted he become one.
I could find many examples of this world view that manifests itself in Desnos's surrealistic vision, but here's one from a poem entitled "In My Glass":
But what stroke of luck led you under my pen/
Because I will make of this desert
of this desert drunk in my glass
a fiery oasis
a countryside full of the whisper of springs and trees
a place of lawns and flowers
of juicy quartered fruits bleeding a perfumed blood
I'll fertilize this desert
with all the flowers of my immense love for life.
One thing I just read on line said he is the most popular of the surrealists. I don't think that's true in this country or in our language. And I think it should be. He was able to keep that joy even in to WWII, when he was doing the real and dangerous work that would lead to his death. Yes, right at the end, there are some angry propagandistic poems -- but then there probably should have been some in Paris in early 1944.
All praise to Robert Desnos!
But I didn't know the poems, until I read this generous (180 page) selection. What joy! What happiness! The surrealists, despite their claims to humor, always seem so dour to me. So fundamentalist, almost, in their allegiance to a particular view of imagination. Not Desnos. Breton famously dismissed him as "narcissistic" or "solipsistic." But that is almost certainly because he enjoyed life, even in his automatic writing. And he didn't become a communist, when Breton insisted he become one.
I could find many examples of this world view that manifests itself in Desnos's surrealistic vision, but here's one from a poem entitled "In My Glass":
But what stroke of luck led you under my pen/
Because I will make of this desert
of this desert drunk in my glass
a fiery oasis
a countryside full of the whisper of springs and trees
a place of lawns and flowers
of juicy quartered fruits bleeding a perfumed blood
I'll fertilize this desert
with all the flowers of my immense love for life.
One thing I just read on line said he is the most popular of the surrealists. I don't think that's true in this country or in our language. And I think it should be. He was able to keep that joy even in to WWII, when he was doing the real and dangerous work that would lead to his death. Yes, right at the end, there are some angry propagandistic poems -- but then there probably should have been some in Paris in early 1944.
All praise to Robert Desnos!
August 27, 2012
Robert Desnos is my favorite of the Surrealist Poets. His closest competitor for that title is Tristan Tzara, whom I count more as a Dadaist than a Surrealist.
October 3, 2026
It’s hard not to like Robert Desnos the poet based on this collection (I have no idea about the personality of Robert Desnos the man, beyond the brief biographical introduction). Surrealist poets and their associates range from the sublime to the insufferable, and Desnos certainly falls into the former category for me. While I was expecting his “automatic writing” poems to contain wild juxtapositions and absurd images, I found them rather to be a swirling tapestry of verse tempered by a gentle, sensitive voice. Desnos writes poetry of love, nature, and the night – three popular topics for any poet – in language that is both simple/direct and slightly mystical, but never elusive.
As with so many other writers whose lives were cut short by WWII, it’s a bit shocking to see the shift in these chronological writings from romantic flights of fancy to dark meditations on war and death. The final poems composed in the time leading up to his arrest are the most powerful to me—the poet/seer as witnessing a struggle for freedom that his own life would mirror. Knowing how his life ended made references in his earlier poems about embracing life and celebrating being alive all the more bittersweet, and made his cries for freedom and a beautiful future life all the more melancholy.
As with so many other writers whose lives were cut short by WWII, it’s a bit shocking to see the shift in these chronological writings from romantic flights of fancy to dark meditations on war and death. The final poems composed in the time leading up to his arrest are the most powerful to me—the poet/seer as witnessing a struggle for freedom that his own life would mirror. Knowing how his life ended made references in his earlier poems about embracing life and celebrating being alive all the more bittersweet, and made his cries for freedom and a beautiful future life all the more melancholy.
December 9, 2007
The Selected Poems of Robert Desnos--unfortunately long out-of-print, is the best gathering and translation of his work to date. Few poems are as moving as "The Voice of Robert Desnos." Other highlights include a touching critical introduction, as well as the deeply moving closing poem for Desnos's common law wife, Youki.
April 24, 2024
I've picked up the 1947 Desnos collection curated and translated by Adolf K., following Desnos's passing in a lazarett in Terezín, Czech Republic. It consists of post-mortem poems by numerous Czech poets and writers paying homage to him. Some of the poets only met him at the hospital. I stumbled upon this book at the Antique Book Shop in downtown Prague.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews