Raymond Roussel

Raymond Roussel (1877-1933) was perhaps the most extraordinary writer of this century. His bizarre works (and eccentric lifestyle) have attracted enthusiastic critical responces from many of his most illustrious contemporaries, and he has been claimed as a precursor by authors associated with the Surrealists, ’Pataphysicians, Tel Quel, Semioticians, Post-Structuralists and the Oulipo. This collection presents for the first time in English four of his most important works: two plays, his final novel, and his most famous long poem. The translations, hardly surprising given their authors, are superb. The essays and texts in this collection constitute a virtual history of Roussel crticism and exegesis, and they are printed here in chronological order, so far as that is possible. Most are translated for the first time. However, several are not – this and the differing interpretations of translators means that certain passages recur throughout the book in different versions. We have not attempted to harmonise them. The bibliography at the end includes the contents of the present volume and provides full details of first publication, etc. Essays & Stories by: Andrew Thompson, Robert De Montesquiou, Philippe Soupault, Pierre Janet, Roger Vitrac, Salvador Dali, André Breton, Michel Butor, Jean Ferry, Michel Leiris, John Ashbery, Raymond Roussel, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jean Ricardou, and Leonardo Sciascia.