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 French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

who was involved with

New York Dada New York Dada was a regionalized extension of Dada, an artistic and cultural movement between the years 1913 and 1923. Usually considered to have been instigated by Marcel Duchamp's ''Fountain (Duchamp), Fountain'' exhibited at the first exhibitio ...

ism.

Early life and education

Varèse was born Louise McCutcheon in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

(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'') 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

magazine '' The Blind Man''. 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, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

in 1915 and became close friends. She was involved in the 1917 Society of Independent Artists 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 o ...

''. 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 k ...

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, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; born Louis Poirier; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their dreamlike abstraction, elegant style and refined vocabulary. He ...

, Saint-John Perse,

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

, Arthur Rimbaud,

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most prolific and successful authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 ...

, and Stendhal. Her translations of the work of Arthur Rimbaud for James 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. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

'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). 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 (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, 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 ...

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 and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

; 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 and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

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, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, an ...

. *She was awarded the Chevalier de l'

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The 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 the recognition of significant ...

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

Bibliography

Fiction

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, 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 * Arthur Rimbaud, ''

A Season in Hell ''A Season in Hell'' () is an extended poem in prose written and published in 1873 by French writer Arthur Rimbaud. It is the only work that was published by Rimbaud himself. The book had a considerable influence on later artists and poets, ...

'',

New Directions Publishing New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin (1914–1997) and incorporated in 1964. Its offices are located at 80 Eighth Avenue in New York City. History New Directions ...

, 1945 * Arthur Rimbaud, ''Illuminations'', New Directions Publishing, 1946 *

Georges Bernanos Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as d ...

, ''Joy'',

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint. Founded in 1942 as an independent publishing house in New York City by Kurt and Helen Wolff, it specialized in introducing progressive European works to American readers. In 1961, it was ...

, 1946 * , ''Parenthesis'',

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

, 1947 *

, '' Paris Spleen'', New Directions Publishing, 1947 *

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

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

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

, ''The Snow Was Black'', Prentice-Hall, 1950 * Stendhal, '' Lucien Leuwen Book I: The Green Huntsman'', New Directions Publishing, 1950 * Stendhal, ''Lucien Leuwen Book II: The Telegraph'', New Directions Publishing, 1950 *

, ''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 publi ...

, 1951 *

, '' The Castle of Argol'', New Directions, 1951 * Georges Simenon, ''The Girl in His Past'', Prentice-Hall, 1952 * Georges Simenon, ''I Take This Woman'', Signet, 1953 *

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenhei ...

, ''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 ...

, 1956

References

External links

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