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Long out of print & for some time hard to get. This new edition (1995) has the basic Roussel text of the book's title, in which Roussel explains something of the crazy-yet-methodical principles that generated his novels (& plays & poems) - works that infuriated a small public & fascinated the whole of a tiny one (the avant-garde, the Surrealist & others). Roussel was a major influence on Duchamp's Large Glass & much else. DARK HORSEY SAYS-Roussel was a major influence on Duchamp's Large Glass & much else. His revival, even for the French, has been led by Anglophones John Ashbery, Harry Mathews & others (though Robbe-Grillet, Georges Perec, the Michels Butor & Foucault, were also among the early enthusiasts of"our current historical period").As well as Roussel's ambivalent I-will-tell-you-my-secret I won't-tell-you-my-secret manifesto this book (a virtual anthology) carries sample chapters of the author's work that demonstrate his magic- from Impressions Of Africa and Documents To Serve As An Outline - trans. Ashbery, from Locus Solus - trans Mathews, Kenneth Koch's translation of New Impressions Of Africa's first chapter & artist Trevor Winkfield's intro to the curious commissioning (done almost by Duchamp's rendezvous method!) of illustration for Roussel's books (the illustrations are here reproduced). Roussel is the patron saint of the Ou Li Po movement (Mathews, Perec, Calvino, Queneau & others) & as such definitely apart of the alternative avant-garde canon, the canon-that-would-be-king! Check other titles by-or about Roussel - including Raymond Roussel-Life, Death & Works & books on the Ou Li Po. |
