The Thief of Talent by Pierre Reverdy (Wakefield Press)

 

Tosh Berman on The Thief of Talent by Pierre Reverdy (Wakefield Press)

 Tosh Berman on Unica Zürn

ANICET or the Panorama by Louis Aragon (Atlas) by Tosh Berman

 

ANICET or the Panorama by Louis Aragon by Tosh Berman

Tosh Berman on Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way," Translated by Lydia Davis

 

Tosh on Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way" Translated by Lydia Davis

Tosh Berman on the writer and novelist Francis Carco

 

Tosh Berman on the writer/novelist Francis Carco

Tosh Berman on Boris Vian's "Vercoquin and the Plankton

 

Tosh Berman on Boris Vian's "Vercoquin and the Plankton"

"The Criminal Child:Selected Essays" by Jean Genet (NYRB)iI

ISBN: 978-68137-361-4

Those who write and look up to other writers (as a writer should, by the way), I have to imagine Jean Genet is very much 'it.'  As a teenager and a young man in his twenties, I greatly admired Yukio Mishima and Genet.  In no fashion was I going to idolize Robert Benchley (that happened in my 50s) or any writer that appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List.   Genet is a criminal.  And a proud criminal on top of that.   In our world now, criminal writers are looked down upon.  As you gather, a writer has to be, at the very least, a morally upstanding citizen.  Genet is bad-ass.  But a bad-ass that can write about his world in such delicious language.  One of the great presses in the English language is the New York Review of Books (NYRB), and their edition of Genet's "The Criminal Child: Selected Essays is a small and remarkable book.  The title piece is regarding the nature of the French reform-school system, and how much Genet preferred the kiddie-prison of his youth.  Also, his essays/commentary on the visual art of Alberto Giacometti and Leonor Fini is superb. Genet can connect to an artist like a hand attached to an arm.  

Robert Desnos - "The Punishments of Hell" (Atlas Press)

ISBN: 978-0-9931487-3-6 Atlas Press

As a teenager who loved to read, I couldn't get enough of The Surrealists.  Before I even found their literature on the printed page, I was intrigued by their sense of dress and haircuts.  There was also a 'gang' mentality when you see a photograph of all of them together.  It's them against the world.  It's that aspect that was a huge appeal for me when approaching the world of DADA and Surrealism.  Once I have bitten into the forbidden apple that is their work, I was hooked.  As of this writing, I'm still glued to their personalities and work.   There are many cliche aspects of Surrealism, but you can't eliminate the wit of some of its writers.  Robert Desnos is the proto-type Surrealist.  He's the guy who could go into a trance and tell a tale that would be mind-blowing.  Although, I suspect that he really wasn't into a dream state, but knew how to fool Andre Breton and company.  

"The Punishments of Hell" is Desnos first prose book.  Written in 1922, I think it was much later published in France.  As mentioned, the gang mentality is very much present, even in this collection of dream prose pieces.  All of Desnos famous friends are mentioned in the narrative, and being a work that was produced during the DADA stage, that was emerging into the Surrealist era, is a fascinating document of its time, place, and more important, the individuals.  Sexual in tone, but never pornographic (at least for the contemporary reader) there are 'shocking' imageries, in the flavor of the Count de Lautrémont, who was clearly the inspiration for "The Punishments of Hell."  Still, it's fascinating how crime and Westerns very much influence surrealist text like this book.  Both in the cinematic world as well as literature.  In a way, Desnos is writing a thriller but with a different type of imagery.  

The book is very dark but humorous.  All of the named figures who were friends of Desnos, pretty much end up dead in a bizarre fashion.  There is a homage to his associates and friends, but all living in a cemetery!   In the common grave, those who are buried are such inspirations to Desnos such as Jarry, Rimbaud, Pierre Souvestre & Marcel Allain (writers of Fantomas) and so forth.   A beautiful edition from Atlas Press, who seem never to fail the fan or reader.  

"Odd Jobs" by Tony Duvert (Wakefield Press)

ISBN: 978-1-939663-29-0 Wakefield Press

Jonathan Swift comes to mind while reading Tony Deuvert's "Odd Jobs."  The set of stories takes place in a village, and all focus on particular occupations that are held in this village.  Or is it even the same village?  Nevertheless, there are occupations such as 'the snot-remover,' 'the wiper' (he cleans your ass and collects your poop) and 'the fondler' who skillfully jerks off boys, and so forth.  I imagine if you try to locate this specific village it may be difficult.  Therefore we're lucky that we have Tony Duvert to lead us to a world, of his own making, and beyond that, a savage satire on family culture and practices. Duvert is a writer who is very sensitive to the concept of family, and how cruel that system can be on individuals and more likely children.  A controversial writer in France, the late Duvert reminds me of Fassbinder the filmmaker, in that he too attacked systems that eventually oppressed a class or the public.  A social commentator, as well as a very dark humorist, "Odd Jobs" is a remarkable piece of work. Like his "District" (also published by Wakefield Press)  this book is a fantastic (although not necessarily) companion to "Odd Jobs."

"District" by Tony Duvert (Wakefield Press)

ISBN: 978-1-939663-30-6 Wakefield Press

Like the iconic and cliche saying about peeling an onion and each layer has a separate meaning or taste, so does the work of Tony Duvert.  "District" is a 40-page book, with ten sections/chapters and an introduction by the translators S. C. Delaney and Agnès Potier.   While reading the book this early afternoon, I immediately thought of the text that went along with the photos of 

Eugène Atget, who took early images of Paris and its life before Paris become modernized in the late 19th century.  Duvert covers an unnamed city (one can presume it's Paris, but who knows?) and in detail writes about that area in a poetic view or prose.  One gets the impression that he's a loner observing life as it happens, but not participating in what goes on in front of him.   It's a gem of a small book that leaves a large impression on me.  I have always been fascinated with writing that deals with a specific space, such as in various writers who were part of, or influenced by Situationists.  Duvert's "District" can follow that direction of such groupings, but also a touch of the "nouveau roman."

"Misia: The Life of Misia Sert" by Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale (Alfred A. Knopf)

Superb biography on Misia Sert, who was a wealthy iconic model as well as a supporter of artists Renoir, Vuillard, Bonnard, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Wherever she sat, it seems that she was the magnet or in the presence of greatness in the art world. From writers to artists to composers to close designers, she knew everyone, and everyone seemed to want her support and friendship. At the moment I can't think of a better book on European art from the 19th-century to the World War II era, where things fell apart in the world of the arts.

"Misia" is written by Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, which is the sole reason why I picked this book up. In my vinyl hunting, I have come upon two great albums by Gold and Fizdale, who play duo pianos, and focused on early 20th-century music, specifically the excellent Paul Bowles. Gold/Fizdale, a gay couple, seem to be at the very heart of the boho music world of the 1940s and 1950s Manhattan world. Besides writing this remarkable biography (1980), they also had a local New York City cooking show as well.

"Misia" is brilliantly told through various letters and journals by those who are in Ms. Sert's social world, as well as her letters to such cultural icons like Jean Cocteau and her best friend Serge Diaghilev, whose personality comes out gloriously in these pages. Cocteau was a hustler for his work, and Diaghilev was a hardcore hustler for his vision of the ballet and combining the most exceptional talents in art, music, and dance in one space, and on one stage. Misia also helped a young Coco Chanel start her world as fashion goddess, and may and may not have been lovers. The book is a gossip's dream of classic scandal on everyone from Marcel Proust to Erik Satie. It's fascinating to me that I know all the participants in this world, except for Misia Sert! There are people like her who were extremely important for any scene to get started, and she was the finance/friend that kept the ball rolling - especially to someone who was a combination of financial ruin and mess, Diaghilev.

The book is full of bitchy witticisms and an essential title for anyone who even has the 'slightest' interest in art culture from those times.

"Letters To His Neighbors" by Marcel Proust (Translated by Lydia Davis) New Directions Books

ISBN: 978-0-8112-2411-6 New Directions Books

I'm fascinated with a writer's residence.  Especially a writer like Marcel Proust, who lived in Paris, yet, couldn't stand outside noise.  He had lined up cork in his room to keep sounds out, but alas, where does one stop, when it becomes an obsession.  Ironically enough, or perhaps cruelty playing at fate, his upstairs neighbor was a dentist with his office right over his bedroom. Proust deal with this problem by addressing various correspondence to the upstairs neighbor's wife, Mme Williams.  Often sent with flowers, compliments, or books.  Proust, even at his wit's end, was a charmer.  Any other temperament, it could have been war.  Alas, it was more of a problem for the whole building to solve. The upside of this situation is that Proust and Mme Williams became close friends.  She made music in her and husband's apartment, and often Proust complimented the sounds above.  

"Letters to His Neighbor" is a very brief small book.  All the correspondence is from Proust, so you don't get Mme Williams commentary in the above narrative.  Still, and not surprisingly, the letters by Proust are written so beautifully.  One wonders if the world would be a better place on Social platforms like Facebook if writers of Proust's talents were on it?  The book is beautifully translated from the French to English by the great Lydia Davis.  Her afterword puts a focus on the relationship between the two neighbors but also comments on the Proust apartment which I found fascinating.  There is even a floor plan of Proust's apartment.  Also, we get what living inside Proust's headquarters was like.  According to Davis, the apartment was stuffed with his family's furniture, and it must have been like the world within a world. 

"Letters to His Neighbors" is slight, but its the devil in the details, and gives some light to "Swann's Way" as well to his other volumes of the same series.  Proust fanatics will want this, but again, it's the writer's lifestyle that I find of great interest.  As a guy who sits behind his computer, I can imagine what Proust had to go through for his work.  After all noise or quiet is a subjective view of the world. 

Roland Barthes

“We know that the war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.” 
― Roland Barthes, Mythologies

"Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism)" by Umberto Boccioni

ISBN: 978-1-60606-475-7 Getty Publications

Oddly enough, I feel nostalgic for the Futurists.  Which is as a movement in the very early 20th century. One should not have those feelings.  As far as I know, these Italian poets/artists were the first militant arts movement in Europe.  Perhaps the little brother to the Cubists, but with a bigger mouth. Along with F.T. Marinetti, who was actually the main figurehead in the Italian Futurist movement, there was  also Umberto Boccioni, who wrote about the Futurist aesthetic, as well as making sculptures, wrote a collection of essays in 1914, "Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism)" that along with Marinetti's writings, are very much the ground zero for Futurist thought and action.  

While Cubism is very much about how one looks at the world, the Futurists were focused on the motion, speed, and their passion to destroy the past, so that the young artist can live and work in a dynamic (Italian) culture.  To do so, they must eliminate images of the nude, feminism, portraits of flowers, and statues made of stone and bronze.  They prefer the plastic material which they see as something totally new and therefore, beautiful.   The interesting thing about The Futurists is that they had strong feelings about the nature of being Italian, as well as a need to shock the masses to embrace the new that's the 20th century.  Of course, this leads to Fascism in their country -if not directly, then spiritually.  A lot of the art movements of the time is basically about the eye confronts an object in front of them. Impressionists, Cubists and so forth were more in tuned to the nature of how one sees the landscape in front of them.   Futurists literally wanted to transform that landscape into a physical presence.   To pour cement over Venice was one of their aesthetic goals, which I'm sure would warm the heart of a real estate mogul.  

Still, and especially when I was young, I was intrigued by the Futurists, just due to the fact that I liked Marinetti's narratives and the stylistic poetic skills he brought to the paper.  They believed as men around 30, that by the time of 40, you're out of business in the art/writing world.  They worshiped the idea of youth doing art and making a society that benefits the beauty of the race car and everything that science can bring to that table - including war, which is nothing more than a cleansing of the world.   In a style, it reminds me of more of the militant aspects of the punk movement of the 1970s.  The ground zero is approached to make a new culture.  This, appeals to a man in his late teens to early 20s, but alas, as I got older, I went back to Cubist thought. On the other hand, we can't forget the shock of the new, and the need to flush out the old, to make space for a new idea.  Ironically sometimes the new idea is not that hot.

"Futurist Painting Sculpture" is a fascinating book on many levels.  Beautifully designed by the Getty Publications (would the Futurists appreciate being part of an institution like the Getty?) and wonderfully edited by Richard Shane Agin and Maria Elena Versari, this is an important document to have in one's collection.  Also one gets a lengthy introduction by Versari (almost 50 pages long) that is informative and places the Futurists in the context of the early century.   The book also includes manifestos written by various members of the Futurists as well.   Boccioni, like Marinetti, wrote to shock, and of course reading it now in 2016, it doesn't have that freshness.  But if one can imagine themselves back in time, and being introduced to something visually and aesthetically jarring - well, it would be very interesting.  

"The Thief of Talent by Pierre Reverdy & Translated by Ian Seed (Wakefield Press)

"The Thief of Talent" by Pierre Reverdy & Translated by Ian Seed (Wakefield Press) 978-1-939663-19-1

When I first heard about this book "The Thief of Talent" by Pierre Reverdy, I was expecting an experimental novel.   It's not.  It's a book length prose poem that is incredibly moving and beautiful.   The book came out in France in 1917, and was pretty much ignored till at least 1967.  In 2016, Wakefield Press has done the first english translation by Ian Seed.  It's a remarkable book about an artist/poet leaving their scene.  A long goodbye note of sorts, but also a very poetic look of a world that passes him by - which happens to be Paris, 1917.  

Reverdy, is without a doubt, one of the great poetic voices of the 20th century.  This early work by him, exposes a certain amount of doubt in working in a world that is often hostile, or at the very least, suspicious of such activity.   The great fellow poet/art critic Max Jacob encouraged Reverdy to write this book, but at the same time, one gather by this text that their relationship had sharp turns to the left and right, when it wanted to go straight ahead.  According to Seed's introduction, the big turning point for Reverdy in writing this book was when Jacob hid his writings from Reverdy by closing a chest door in front of him.  This very act, caused a certain amount of stress for Reverdy, even though it was common practice for artists and writers of that time, to hide their work from fellow artists, due to the fear of being plagiarized. 

Maybe because it is due that Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for literature, but I couldn't help thinking about his work, while reading this book.  Dylan is known for 'borrowing' text for his songs/writings, and one wonder if he knew Reverdy's work. I suspect he does.   This, almost reads like a Dylan book written in the future.   Like Dylan, Reverdy is very cinematic with his writing.  One gets clear visuals while reading the text.  He knows how to paint a picture in one's head.  For me, I can't think of a 'new' book that is so important.  The loss of identity or to question such a thing, is very much part of 20th century literature.  And I have to admit it is very much part of my work as well.  "The Thief of Talent" is for all those who create something, and the need to say au revoir.  

"Antonin Artaud" by David A. Shafer (Reaktion Books)

ISBN: 978-1-78023-570-7 Reaction Books

"Antonin Artaud" by David A. Shafer (Reaktion Books)

There are certain figures that one grows up with, even though one may not understand their work, it is still part of one's DNA.   There were always images on the wall in our family household.  Jean Cocteau, Brigitte Bardot, and Antonin Artaud.  I eventually as a teenager, started to read his works, more out of curiosity, and family duty than anything else.   I have read countless books on Artaud which in truth, there are probably more books on him, than say his writings.  Still, the image of Artaud is a very strong one.   He had a beautiful handsome face when young, and as an adult and a drug addict - still pretty sharp looking!  If this was death and pain, I'll pick up a six-pack of it please!

Yet, the surface is not everything, and as one dwells into his writings and drawings, one discovers an inner world where communication is muted by disease, mentally as well as physically - and to somewhat break that wall between audience and performer.  Artaud in most circles is thought of as a theater artist - especially with his manifesto "Theater of Cruelty."   The grand-dad of happenings, and 20th century experimental theater practices, Artaud is the guiding light of everything that is wonderful abut the spirit trying to leave the sick body and mind - yet, of course, there is usually some sort of payment in the end.   David A. Shafer wrote a really nice and brief - yet smart - biography and study on Artaud for the great Reakton Critical Lives Series. 

It's a sad narrative of a life of a genius that was side-tracked by madness and therefore a prolonged spell in various mental hospitals.  Yet, one can never forget Artaud's image as an actor and as a visionary that moved out of the shadows to express sincere angst against a world that abandoned or tortured him.  I fully appreciate why my dad had his photo in his studio and elsewhere.  Oh, and he was a beautiful looking man. 

- Tosh Berman

"The Crippled Giant: A Literary Relationship with Louis-Ferdinand Céline" by Milton Hindus

Louis-Ferdinand Céline

"The Crippled Giant:  A Literary Relationship with Louis-Ferdinand Céline" by Milton Hindus

Louis-Ferdinand Céline is endlessly fascinating.  For obvious reasons when I think of the publishing house New Directions, I always think of Céline along with that press.  I first started reading his work, due to the love of his stylist language, or at least, the english translation of his work.  There is something punk-like in the way he saw his world.  The fact that he wasn't exactly a huge fan of the jews, just added a 'wow' aspect to his work.  And by no means, a 'wow' in a good way.  Still, a remarkable figure who lived through the wars, and I think, suffered from them as well.  

"The Crippled Giant" is an interesting and odd book.  Milton Hindus, a literary academic type of fellow, as well as being jewish, became an acquaintance of Céline - in fact, he helped him a lot during the late 1940s, when he was exiled in Denmark, due to his kind-of-pro-nazi stance.  The fact is, I think Céline was just a miserable human being, but also a genius stylist - and Hindus had to deal with that fact.   The book starts off as a memoir of him knowing and visiting Céline, but then becomes a lit-crit of his writings.  The first two-parts of the book are very so-so to me, on the other hand, the last third of the book is devoted to their correspondence to each other.  That, I found much more interesting.

Through the letters, one gets a better (not always in a good way) impression of Céline's personality, and to be thankful, Hindus doesn't back down from him.  Yet, he was very supportive, especially arranging business dealings with New Directions in New York, as well as sending him coffee time-to-time.   Since I'm a publisher myself, I found the discussion between Céline and Hindus regarding the publishing world in France as well as in America, totally intriguing.   Their relationship didn't last, but, this book gives us a peak behind the curtain that surrounds the often-mysterious Céline.   And for that, I'm thankful for this book. 

Milton Hindus

- Tosh Berman

"Sphinx" by Anne Garréta (Translated from the French by Emma Ramadan & Introduction by Daniel Levin Becker)

ISBN: 978-1-941920-09-1 Deep Vellum

"Sphinx" by Anne Garréta (Translated from the French by Emma Ramadan; Introduction by Daniel Levin Becker)   Deep Vellum

A really nice mood piece of writing here.  Anne Garréta gives the nighttime life of Paris and Manhattan a nice smokey touch, as this is a tale of lovers, one is a combination of professor and DJ, and the other lover is an American dancer in Paris.  What we don't know is the gender of either of the two.   Which must have been hell for the translator Emma Ramadan to do, since the French language has very strong genderistic touches to their language.   In all honesty, as I was reading, I was imagining that the lovers were women, and I'm not sure if it was just a stupid knowledge of knowing the author is female, or somehow the nature of the two main characters.   Garréta wrote this novel when she was 25, and she became a member of Oulipo five years after she wrote "Sphinx."   One can sense the playfulness of the language as well as the no gender specific of the two characters, but it's not as experimental as Georges Perec for instance.  The story reads as a doomed love story, a very smart and textured text, but one that conveys the loss of a presence.  

- Tosh Berman

"Missing Person" by Patrick Modiano (Translated by Daniel Weissbort) David R. Godine Publisher

ISBN: 9781567922813  David R. Godine Publisher

"Missing Person" by Patrick Modiano (Translated by Daniel Weissbort) David R. Godine Publisher

The occupation that took place in France during the war years, was (or is) something that people never got over, and for good reason.  20th century French literature has many novels and books about this dark time in France.   One can add "Missing Person" by Patrick Modiano in this mix as well.   The narrative is the story of a detective who is locating .... himself.    Which, also, is quite the theme for contemporary fiction.  From Kafka to Mishima, it is usually a journey to track down the "self" and where that may lead.  Here, our hero (of sorts) has a photograph or two, where he interviews numerous people who may have known him or what ever happened to him.  This novel is a bit like an espionage novel mixed in with Alain Robbe-Grillet's fiction.  It's toxic combination, but still, I found the novel a bit understated for my taste.  On the other hand, I really enjoyed his memoir.  Still, I will go onward and check out his other novels. 

"The Hounded Man" by Francis Carco (Thomas Seltzer, 1924)

"Hounded Man" by Francis Carco (Thomas Seltzer, 1924)

A tale of a man who commits murder and lives his life after that fact.  Of course, since this is a Francis Carco piece of work, there is a woman of the streets who share with the leading character's misery, dread, and fear.  Also the city of Paris adds a certain amount of noir existence in the mix as well.  I found a copy of "Hounded Man" in the Los Angeles Library system, and my guess it probably hasn't been checked out since its publication date, 1924.   Carco is an amazing writer, who specializes in little pyscho-dramas that takes place in Parisian hotels and bars.   Why he isn't more known in the English language world is a mystery.  I suspect that it will only be a matter of time before New York Review of Books (NYRB) start publishing his noir-like novels of men's darkness and their city (Paris, of course). 

- Tosh Berman