Darkness Moves: An Henri Michaux Anthology, 1927-1984
Henri Michaux defies common critical definition. Critics have compared his work to such diverse artists as Kafka, Goya, Swift, Klee, and Beckett. Allen Ginsberg called Michaux "genius," and Jorge Luis Borges wrote that Michaux's work "is without equal in the literature of our time." This anthology contains substantial selections from almost all of Michaux's major works, most never before published in English, and allows readers to explore the haunting verbal and pictorial landscape of a...
Search in google:
Henri Michaux defies common critical definition. Critics have compared his work to such diverse artists as Kafka, Goya, Swift, Klee, and Beckett. Allen Ginsberg called Michaux "genius," and Jorge Luis Borges wrote that Michaux's work "is without equal in the literature of our time." This anthology contains substantial selections from almost all of Michaux's major works, most never before published in English, and allows readers to explore the haunting verbal and pictorial landscape of a twentieth-century visionary.Library JournalFrench painter Michaux (1899-1984) explored the subconscious mind and the effects of such hallucinogens as mescalin not only in pigment but in poetry. Here, poet Ball offers a generous and delightful selection from Michaux's published works; his translation skills bring Michaux's words to life in English, giving them the same energy and nimbleness they have in their original French. Many of the works in this anthology are prose poems, but this is essentially a collection of verse, one that requires continual reading the way a bag of peanuts requires continual eating. Observations on human interactions, as well as the life of the mind, abound. Highly recommended for most public and academic libraries; this poetry should have wide appeal. (Photos not seen.)-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionSome Information about Fifty-Nine Years of ExistenceTranslator's NoteWho I Was3My Properties5The Night Moves21Plume, preceded by Far-Off Inside43Ordeals, Exorcisms81Trying to Wake Up95Elsewhere101Life in the Folds141Facing the Locks161
\ Library JournalFrench painter Michaux (1899-1984) explored the subconscious mind and the effects of such hallucinogens as mescalin not only in pigment but in poetry. Here, poet Ball offers a generous and delightful selection from Michaux's published works; his translation skills bring Michaux's words to life in English, giving them the same energy and nimbleness they have in their original French. Many of the works in this anthology are prose poems, but this is essentially a collection of verse, one that requires continual reading the way a bag of peanuts requires continual eating. Observations on human interactions, as well as the life of the mind, abound. Highly recommended for most public and academic libraries; this poetry should have wide appeal. (Photos not seen.)-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.\ \ \ \ \ Elizabeth T. GrayDavid Ball has assembled and translated a stunning selection of Michaux's works.....We feel the fears, hysteria, and humor, and respond to the beauty and awe. -- Elizabeth T. Gray\ \
