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Henri Michaux

    May 24, 1899 – October 19, 1984

    Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian poet, writer, and painter working in the French language. He is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, with his body of work encompassing poetry, travelogues, and art criticism. Michaux traveled extensively and experimented with drugs, the latter resulting in two of his most intriguing works.

    Henri Michaux
    Ideograms in China
    Miserable Miracle
    A Certain Plume
    Storms Under the Skin
    Light Through Darkness
    Darkness Moves
    • 2021

      Light Through Darkness

      • 246 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

      Light Through Darkness
    • 2018

      A Certain Plume

      • 240 pages
      • 9 hours of reading
      4.1(40)Add rating

      A bilingual edition of the most famous of Henri Michaux's poetry collections, now in a new translation from the French. The figure of Plume preoccupied the great Belgian poet Henri Michaux throughout his career. Plume, meaning feather or pen, is a character who drifts from one thing to another, losing shape, taking new forms, at perpetual risk from reality. He is a personification of the imagination as subject to innumerable pratfalls and disgraces, and yet indestructible for all that. In this new bilingual edition, with translations by Richard Sieburth, the entire Plume cycle appears for the first time in English in the form in which Michaux originally published it.

      A Certain Plume
    • 2017

      Poet and artist Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was one of the most original and influential figures of twentieth century French poetry. In Storms Under the Skin Jane Draycott translates poems and prose-poems from Michaux's works 1927-54.

      Storms Under the Skin
    • 2016

      A Barbarian in Asia

      • 198 pages
      • 7 hours of reading
      2.9(16)Add rating

      Henri Michaux's journey through the Far East, from India to the Himalayas and on to China and Japan, reveals his candid observations and unique insights into diverse cultures. Blending a fanciful travelogue with sharp commentary, he shares his vivid impressions with unfiltered honesty. This edition features the original translation by Sylvia Beach, the renowned American bookseller in Paris, highlighting the book's literary significance and cultural exploration.

      A Barbarian in Asia
    • 2014

      Thousand Times Broken

      Three Books

      • 162 pages
      • 6 hours of reading

      This collection features three previously untranslated works by Henri Michaux, showcasing his unique insights during his mescaline experimentation. Accompanied by illustrations from both Michaux and Matta, the texts delve into the author's exploration of altered states of consciousness, creativity, and the human experience. The interplay between the written word and visual art enhances the profound themes of perception and self-discovery.

      Thousand Times Broken
    • 2002

      Ideograms in China

      • 64 pages
      • 3 hours of reading
      3.9(93)Add rating

      Exploring the depths of Chinese culture, Michaux's work serves as a profound prose poem reflecting on the significance of ideograms. Through a rich tapestry of illustrations and annotations, he examines various scripts, from ancient ku-wen to k'ai-shu characters, revealing the beauty and evolution of the Chinese written language. This exploration not only highlights the aesthetic qualities of the ideograms but also their role in uniting a civilization over millennia, capturing the essence of a culture deeply intertwined with its script.

      Ideograms in China
    • 2002

      Miserable Miracle

      • 200 pages
      • 7 hours of reading
      4.1(274)Add rating

      "This book is an exploration. By means of words, signs, drawings. Mescaline, the subject explored." In Miserable Miracle, the great French poet and artist Henri Michaux, a confirmed teetotaler, tells of his life-transforming first encounters with a powerful hallucinogenic drug. At once lacerating and weirdly funny, challenging and Chaplinesque, his book is a breathtaking vision of interior space and a piece of stunning writing wrested from the grip of the unspeakable.Includes forty pages of black-and-white drawings.

      Miserable Miracle
    • 1997

      Darkness Moves

      • 270 pages
      • 10 hours of reading
      4.4(328)Add rating

      Critics have compared Michaux's work to such diverse artists as Kafka, Goya, Swift, Klee and Beckett. This anthology contains selections from almost all of Michaux's major works, allowing readers to explore the haunting verbal and pictorial landscape of a 20th-century visionary.

      Darkness Moves