Earthlight (Clair de terre): Poems

Best known in the United States as the mastermind of the Surrealist movement and as the author of Nadja, André Breton has always enjoyed in Europe the reputation of being a brilliant poet as well. Bill Zavatsky’s and Zack Rogow’s award winning translation of Breton’s Earthlight (Clair de terre) introduces the English-language audience to the delights—and complexities—of Breton’s amazing poetry. Written to friends and fellow Surrealists such as Pablo Picasso, Tristan Tzara, Robert Desnos, Francis Picabia, Pierre Reverdy, and Max Ernst, the poems in the collection date from 1919 to 1936, spanning Breton’s involvement with Dadaism and his founding of Surrealism. Winner of the 1993 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize, this new edition has been extensively revised and is now issued in a bilingual French-English format.