Louise Varèse (; ; 20 November 1890 – 1 July 1989), also credited as Louise Norton or Louise Norton-Varèse, was an American writer, editor, and translator of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

who was involved with New York Dadaism.

Early life and education

Varèse was born Louise McCutcheon in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania, to John Lindsay McCutcheon and Mary Louise Taylor. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's coll ...

(class of 1912), but left in the fall of 1911 to marry Allen Norton.

Career

Varèse founded and edited the modernist magazine ''Rogue'' (a play off of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'') with her then-husband, Allen Norton, from 1915 to 1916. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym "''Dame Rogue".'' Under this pseudonym, Varèse wrote a fashion column called "Philosophic Fashions." She was also a contributor to the New York Dada magazine ''

The Blind Man ''The Blind Man'' was an art and Dada journal published briefly by the New York Dadaists in 1917. History Henri-Pierre Roché and Marcel Duchamp, visiting from France, organized the magazine with Beatrice Wood in New York City. Mina Loy also ...

''. Varèse (then Norton) met

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

in 1915 and became close friends. She was involved in the 1917

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

submission of a urinal under the name R.Mutt known as ''

Fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

''. She wrote a defense of the work titled "Buddha of the Bathroom" in issue 2 of ''The Blind Man.'' Her address also appears on the label of ''Fountain'' as seen in the

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

photograph of the work and her phone number was given as an alternative to Duchamp's as press contact. As such, she is a likely candidate for the "female friend" Duchamp mentions in a letter dated 11 April 1917 to his sister Suzanne: "Une de mes amies sous un pseudonyme masculin, Richard Mutt, avait envoyé une pissotière en porcelaine comme sculpture" ("One of my female friends under a masculine pseudonym, Richard Mutt, sent in a porcelain urinal as a sculpture."). Varèse translated poetry and other works by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...

Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007; born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French ''département'' of Maine-et-Loire) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were note ...

, Saint-John Perse,

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, Georges Simenon, and

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...

. Her translations of the work of

for

James Laughlin James Laughlin (October 30, 1914 – November 12, 1997) was an American poet and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing. Early life He was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin. Laughlin ...

's New Directions imprint were particularly influential. In 1956, she translated the section "The Great Improvisation" from

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

's poetic drama '' Dziady''. She played an important role in the International Composers' Guild, and included material about this organisation in her book ''Varèse; a looking-glass diary'' (1972).Contact: A Journal for Contemporary Music (1971-1988) http://contactjournal.gold.ac.ukCitation Cox, David Harold. 1977. ‘Review of Varese: "A Looking-Glass Diary, Volume 1: 1883-1928" by Louise Varèse’, "Contact", 16. pp. 21-23. ISSN 0308-5066
/ref> She was also a contributing writer for

Lapham's Quarterly ''Lapham's Quarterly'' is a literary magazine established in 2007 by former ''Harper's Magazine'' editor Lewis H. Lapham. Each issue examines a theme using primary source material from history. The inaugural issue "States of War" contained dozens ...

. In 1972, she wrote a biography of her late second husband, Edgard Varèse, titled: ''Varèse: A Looking-Glass Diary.'' For the exhibition ''Marcel Duchamp'' at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin ...

in 1973, Varèse wrote an essay titled ''Marcel Duchamp at Play.''

Personal life

Her first husband was poet and literary editor Allen Norton, the couple had a son, Michael in 1912, separated in 1916, and divorced in 1920. Louise also had a granddaughter, Sylvia Calderwood. In 1922 she married composer

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coine ...

; they remained together until his death in 1965.

Death

Varèse died on July 1, 1989 at the age of 98 in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

Awards

*In 1948, Varèse was awarded the Denyse Clairouin Award for her translation of '' Paris Spleen'' by

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

. *She was awarded the Chevalier de l'

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 1969. *Varèse was awarded MacDowell fellowships from 1967 through 1975.

Bibliography

Fiction

* Norton, Louise. ''Little wax candle; a farce in one act''. New York: Claire Marie, 1914.

Nonfiction

* Norton arèse Louise. "Buddha of the Bathroom," ''The'' ''Blind Man 2''. May 1917: 5–6. * Varèse, Louise. ''Varèse; a looking-glass diary''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1972. * ortonVarèse. Louise. "Marcel Duchamp at Play," in ''Marcel Duchamp'', ed. Anne d'Harnoncourt and Kynaston McShine. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art. 1973; rpt. 1989. 224–225.

Translations

* Saint-John Perse, ''Éloges and Other Poems'', W. W. Norton & Company, 1944. *

, A Season in Hell, New Directions, 1945. *

, Illuminations, New Directions, 1946. * Georges Bernanos, ''Joy'',

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

, 1946. * Jacques Lemarchand, ''Parenthesis'',

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

, 1947. *

, Paris Spleen: 1869, New Directions, 1947. *

, ''Pleasures and Regrets'', Crown Publishers, 1946. *

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

, ''The Chips are Down'', Lear Publishers, 1948. *

, ''The Green Huntsman'', New Directions, 1950. * Georges Bernanos, ''Joy'', Pantheon, 1951. * Georges Simenon, ''The Heart Of A Man'',

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

, 1951. * Georges Simenon, ''The Girl in His Past'', Prentice-Hall, 1952. * Georges Simenon, ''I Take This Woman'', Signet, 1953. * Henri Michaux, ''Miserable Miracle (Mescaline''),

City Lights Books City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ti ...

, 1956.

References

External links

Louise Varèse papers
at the

Sophia Smith Collection The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. General One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Varese, Louise 1890 births 1989 deaths Writers from Pittsburgh American translators French–English translators Translators of Marcel Proust Dada Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres MacDowell Colony fellows 20th-century translators