Claude Pelieu

Claude Pelieu
Born Claude Pélieu
December 20, 1934
Beauchamp, Val-d'Oise, France
Died December 24, 2002 (aged 68)
Norwich, New York, U.S.
Pen name Claude Pelieu-Washburn, Claude Lieu
Occupation Author, Artist & Translator
Literary movement Beat Generation, Postmodernism

Claude Pélieu was a French poet and artist born in Beauchamp (near Pontoise, Val d'Oise ) on December 20, 1934 and died December 24, 2002 in Norwich, New York, USA

Biography

1934-1952

The 20th of December, 1934, at 10 a.m. Claude Pélieu was born in a clinic in Pontoise to Pierre Pélieu and Marguerite. They lived in Beauchamp, near Pontoise.

1952

After graduation, Claude Pélieu entered the School of the Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1952 he participated in a group show in Paris at the Galerie du Haut-Pavé in the Center Saint-Jacques on the rue Danton. Through Father Gilles Vallée, Claude met the future architect Henri Caubel who later arranged from 1999 to 2001 retrospective shows of Claude Pélieu’s collages.

1952-1953

Claude Pélieu worked as a library aide at La Maison des Amis des Livres, a bookstore founded by Adrienne Monnier, a friend of Sylvia Beach, a second cousin of Mary Beach (Claude Pélieu’s second wife).

1955

Claude Pélieu’s first texts were published in Le Libertaire (or Lib), a political journal, close to the Lettrist movement. At that time the future poet was politically active in the libertarian movement. This was the beginning of Claude Pélieu’s interest in the poetry of Jacques Prévert but also in collage. He continued to draw assiduously (the sale of drawings provided a meager living).

1956

Claude Pélieu participated in a group show at the bookstore/gallery The Sun in the Head organized by the mother of Jean-Jacques Lévêque, Marguerite Fos.

July 14, 1959-1960

Claude met Lula at a Ball at Vieux Colombier Street. Lula and Claude had a passionate relationship often accompanied by misery. They were married on May 11, 1960.

1962

Claude met Mary Beach.

1963

Claude and Lula separated. The poet had an addiction to heroin. In November 1963, Claude left for San Francisco with Mary Beach.

1964-1968

Claude Pélieu lived in San Francisco, New York and Hawaii. Automatic Pilot was published at the end of 1964, translated from French into English by Mary Beach. She also translated, with the assistance of Claude Pélieu, several books by William Burroughs, Bob Kaufman and Allen Ginsberg.

1969-1979

Had a dozen or so books published through 1979, mostly by Bourgois, Soleil Noir, and 10/18.

1979-2002

Claude Pélieu devoted himself to collage while continuing to write and publish irregularly. At the end of the 1990s, several exhibits of his collages took place in France. He also had several new books published right up to his death December 24, 2002 in New York.

Bibliography

French Language

German Language

English Language

External links