more common than actually enjoying an artist i'd sought out in the first place is discovering a new more intriguing one by proxy. in this case it was andre breton. i began reading nadja on the bus today and while its certainly compelling despite making very (and i mean really fucking VERY) little sense at the moment, i could perceive that familiar intellectual smugness that stains so many works of the 1920s literary scene. a short wiki search showed me that not only did he seem like a pretentious bore (we all know this sort of white dude - the pseudo communist 'intellectual' type who feeds off a good ego stroke), but a homophobe as well. which leads me to rene. according to breton's wikipedia:
In 1935, there was a conflict between Breton and Ilya Ehrenburg during the first "International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture" which opened in Paris in June. Breton had been insulted by Ehrenburg—along with all fellow surrealists—in a pamphlet which said, among other things, that surrealists were "pederasts". Breton slapped Ehrenburg several times on the street, which resulted in surrealists being expelled from the Congress. Crevel, who according to Salvador DalÃ, was "the only serious communist among surrealists" was isolated from Breton and other surrealists, who were unhappy with Crevel because of his homosexuality and annoyed with communists in general.
and crevel's wiki bio
Crevel was born in
Paris to a family of
Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, during a difficult stage of his life, his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Crevel studied
English at the
University of Paris. He met
André Breton and joined the surrealist movement in 1921, from which he would be excluded in October 1923 due to Crevel's
homosexuality and Breton's belief that the movement had been corrupted.
During this period, Crevel wrote novels such as
Mon corps et moi ("My Body and Me"). In 1926, he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis which made him start using
morphine. The 1929 exile of
Léon Trotsky persuaded him to rejoin the surrealists. Remaining faithful to André Breton, he struggled to bring
communists and surrealists closer together. Much of Crevel's work deals with his inner turmoil at being
bisexual.
Crevel killed himself by turning on the
gas on his kitchen stove the night of 18 June 1935, several weeks before his 35th birthday. There were at least two direct reasons: (1) There was a conflict between Breton and
Ilya Ehrenburg during the first "International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture" which opened in Paris in June 1935. Breton, who like all fellow surrealists, had been insulted by Ehrenburg in a pamphlet which said – among other things – that surrealists were
pederasts, slapped Ehrenburg several times on the street, which led to surrealists being expelled from the Congress. Crevel, who according to
Salvador DalÃ, was "the only serious
communist among surrealists"
[1] (and was facing more and more solitude as the real face of Soviet socialism started to occur
[2]), spent a whole day trying to persuade the other delegates to allow surrealists back, but he was not successful and left the Congress at 11pm, totally exhausted. (2) Crevel reportedly had learned that he suffered from
renal tuberculosis right upon leaving the Congress (Claude Courtot, in
[1]). He left a note which read "
Please cremate my body. Loathing."
It should be remembered that when André Breton included the question "
Suicide: Is It a Solution?" in the first issue of
La Révolution surréaliste in 1925, Crevel was one of those who answered
"Yes". He wrote "
It is most probably the most correct and most ultimate solution."
tbh i have very little interest in philosophy, in general. like, i guess this could be seen as stupidity but the thought of a bunch of white dudes ruminating on nothingness is about the least appealing use of my time i can think of (subject specific philosophy and theory being quite another matter). but this! maybe its my draw 2 drama but this is intriguing, this is something i'd like to know about. fuck breton, i want to know crevel. i dont have time for psuedo-anythings, crevel was the real communist and though lacking the audacity of breton in ""founding"" any movement he was an obvious mover and shaker who seems to have played an integral part to it. and though just like that it seems ive made up a whole mythology of a person in my mind, theres no denying that theres bound to be some truth in it.
now as to actually checking out his works for myself, my body and i seems to be his best known novel so id feel naturally inclined to start there but when looking up information i stumbled upon this book cover
with this description on the back.
im going to see if its available through the state library system and if so i'll probably be beginning with this as soon as i finish nadja. of course breton is significant and its worth reading him but as a personality he's just a too uncompelling and actually p repelling figure for my tastes. i have a hard time seperating author from work, and tbh thats probably not too bad a thing.