Michel Leiris 1901-1990

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biography
Michel Leiris was born in 1901. He grew up in comfortable Parisian bourgeois
surroundings. The earnest student of chemistry was soon seduced by the eciting world
of cafes and cabarets! and particularly by the heady stimulus of "adaism and #urrealism.
$ntroduced to surrealist circles by his lifelong friend %ndre Masson! Leiris by the late
19&0's had become one of the earliest defectors from the mo(ement. #ubse)uently! he co-
founded! with *eorge +ataille! Maurice +lanchot! Pierre ,lossows-i and .oger /aillois
the /ollege de #ociologie. His continuing ethnographic fascination with the cultures of
%frica! the /aribbean! and /entral %merica! as well as his etensi(e fieldwor- in #udan
and 0thiopia! ha(e produced such literary fruits as his uni)ue tra(el account L'%fri)ue
1antome 219334. He is also the author of a four (olume autobiography! La .egle du 5eu!
of which the first (olume was published in 0nglish as Manhood. Leiris li(ed in Paris with
his wife! owner of the *alerie Louise Leiris! a ma6or art institution in the post-war period.
Leiris has written etensi(ely on ma6or modern artists - among them Miro! *iacometti!
"uchamp! Lam! and +acon.
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selected wor-s in translation
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%urora translated by %nna 7arby 2%tlas! 19904
8ights as "ay! "ays as 8ight translated by .ichard #ieburth 20ridanos Press! 199:4
The /ardinal Point in The %utomatic Muse translated by Terry Hale and $ain 7hite
2%tlas 199;4
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writing
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ecerpts from -8ights as "ay! "ays as 8ight
May :-9! 19&<
Tra(els! railways. +efore lea(ing Paris - or passing through Paris - $ arranged to meet my
mother in! for eample! one of the forward cars of such and such a train at the %msterdam
#tation. $n my dream! $ seem to be remembering an earlier dream that appears to pro(ide
a precedent for my current situation= ha(ing forgotten my suitcase on a train and ha(ing
figured out the location of my compartment! $ wait for the net train! con(inced $ will
find my suitcase in the corresponding compartment> which is eactly what happens.
?ndated
$ obser(e the following bit of dialogue between %ndre +reton and .obert "esnos! or $
read it as if it were a fragment of a play with stage directions=
%.+.= 2to .obert "esnos4 The seimoteric tradition...
..". 2turns into a stac- of plates4.
?ndated
% tree with three branches 2that are sna-es4 taps at my windowpane! dressed in a ready-
to-wear suit and a bro-en detachable collar.
#omewhat later that night! a dog $ imagine to be lying between my mattress and my
bedspring turns into a long bron@e reptile whose porcupine-li-e )uills penetrate my body.
%pril &-3! 193;
This woman $ am in lo(e with and $ are following our story in an illustrated wee-ly for
children. 0ach wee- we buy a new installment and both in the little bloc-s of print and in
the accompanying illustrations! we disco(er descriptions of e(erything we will be doing.