Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ist, and founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism.

Biography

Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé, France on 4 July 1899. He, as a child, acquired little education due to his dislike of school and he instead attended the Local Art School in 1912. In 1913, he resigned due to his lack of study and willingness to do so. Afterward he spent a short period of time in a School of Industrial Design. During World War I, Péret enlisted in the French army's Cuirassiers, to avoid being jailed for defacing a local statue with paint. He saw action in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, before being deployed to Salonica, Greece. During a routine movement of his unit via train, he discovered a copy of Pierre Albert-Birot's avant-garde magazine ''SIC: Sons Idées Couleurs, Formes'', founded in January 1916, sitting upon a bench on the station platform. It contained poetry by Apollinaire and sparked Péret's love for experimental

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. ''SIC'' was the second Parisian magazine, after ''Nord-Sud'', to distribute the texts of the

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

ists, namely those of

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...

. At the end of its publication in December 1919, ''SIC'' had published 53 issues. Towards the end of the war, still in Greece, he suffered from an attack of

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

which led to his repatriation and deployment in Lorraine for the remainder of the war. After the end of the war he joined the

movement and soon after, in 1921, he published ''Le Passager du transtlantique'' – his first book of poetry before he abandoned the Dada movement to follow André Breton and the emerging Surrealist movement, working alongside and influencing the Mexican writer Octavio Paz. In the fall of 1924 he was the co-editor of the journal '' La Révolution surréaliste'', becoming chief editor in 1925. And in 1928, before emigrating to Brazil in 1929 with his wife Elsie Houston, he published ''Le Grand Jeu''. Two years later in 1931, a mere few months after the birth of his first son, Geyser, whilst living in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, he was arrested and expelled from Brazil on grounds of being a "Communist Agitator" – having formed, with his brother-in-law Mario Pedrosa, the Brazilian Communist League which was based upon the ideas of Trotsky. After returning to France, he went to Spain at the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and entered into an anarchist militia at Pino de Ebro. Back in France, in 1940 he was imprisoned for his political activities. Upon his release, he sailed for Mexico with the aid of the American-based Emergency Rescue Committee to study pre-Columbian myths and American folklore. He had originally wished to emigrate to the United States but was unable to do so due to his Communist affiliations. Péret went to Mexico with his partner, the Spanish artist Remedios Varo. In Mexico City he became involved with the European intellectual community around the Austrian painter and surrealist Wolfgang Paalen living there in exile. He was particularly inspired by Paalen's huge collection and knowledge about the "Totem Art" of the Northwest Coast of British Columbia; 1943 he finished a long essay on the necessity of poetic myths, exemplified with the mythology and art of the Northwest Coast, which was then published in New York by André Breton in '' VVV''.Benjamin Péret: La parole est à Péret, New York 1943, also in: Œuvres complètes, Tome 6, Les Amériques et autres lieux, Paris 1992, p. 18ff While living in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Péret met Natalia Sedova, Trotsky's widow. He remained in Mexico until the end of 1947. He returned to Paris and died there on 18 September 1959.

Works

1921: ''Le Passager du transatlantique''
1925: ''Cent cinquante-deux proverbes mis au goût du jour, en collaboration avec Paul Éluard''
1927: ''Dormir, dormir dans les pierres''
1928: ''Le Grand Jeu''
1934: ''De derrière les fagots''
1936: ''Je sublime''
1936: ''Je ne mange pas de ce pain-là''
1945: ''Le Déshonneur des poètes''
1945: ''Dernier Malheur dernière chance''
1946: ''Un point c’est tout''
1952: ''Air mexicain''
1955: ''Le Livre de Chilam Balam de Chumayel''
1956: ''Anthologie de l’amour sublime''
1957: ''Gigot, sa vie, son œuvre''
1960: ''Le premier tournage de porno''

English translations

*''Four Years After the Dog''. Poems of Benjamin Péret. Arc Publications, 1974. *''Irregular Work''. Actual Size Press, 1984. *''Death to the Pigs and the Field of Battle''. Atlas Press, 1988. *''From the Hidden Storehouse (Selected Poems by Benjamin Péret)''. Oberlin College, 1991. *''Mad Balls''. Atlas Press, 1991. *''The Automatic Muse''. Atlas Press, 1994. *''A Menagerie in Revolt! Selected Writings''. Black Swan Press, 2009. *''The Leg of Lamb: Its Life and Works.'' Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, 2011

References

External links

* * *
''A Menagerie in Revolt! Selected Writings of Benjamin Péret'' (Publisher website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peret, Benjamin 1899 births 1959 deaths People from Loire-Atlantique Dada Surrealist poets French communists French Marxists French Trotskyists French Marxist writers French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French novelists French erotica writers Burials at Batignolles Cemetery French surrealist writers French communist poets French military personnel of World War I