Joe Bousquet

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Joë Bousquet (Narbonne, 1897- Carcassonne 1950), was a celebrated French surrealist poet, who was permanently paralysed by enemy fire in 1918. This led to Bousquet living a secluded existence, which fed an expression of thought that had a transparent purity.

His home was in Carcassonne, France and is now a museum in his memory. Some of his contemporaries who visited included André Gide, Paul Valdry, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, writer Francois Francois-Paul Alibert and the philosopher Claude Louis Esteve.

Bousquet belonged to Sud, the group of Carcassonne, and was co-editor of the culture magazine Cahiers. He wrote several collections of poems, scattered fragments of a private diary, and a comprehensive correspondence. His first work was published in 1936.

His work was admired by many famous French writers of the 20th century, including René Char, Louis Aragon, André Breton, Gide, Valdry, and, most notably, Gilles Deleuze.

[edit] Poetry collections

• Le Mal d'enfance, (Denoël, 1939), illustrated by René Iché
• Traduit du silence, (Gallimard, 1941)
• Le Meneur de lune, (1946)
• La Connaissance du soir, (Éditions du Raisin, 1946)