The Punishments of Hell by Robert Desnos

Translated by Natasha Lehrer. Introduction by Marie-Claire Dumas

As a teenager who loved to read, I couldn't get enough of The Surrealists.  Before I even found their literature on the printed page, I was intrigued by their sense of dress and haircuts.  There was also a 'gang' mentality when you see a photograph of them together.  It's them against the world.  That aspect was a massive appeal to me when approaching the world of DADA and Surrealism.  Once I bit into the forbidden apple that is their work, I was hooked.  I'm still glued to their personalities and work as of this writing.   Surrealism has many cliche aspects, but you can't eliminate the wit of some of its writers.  Robert Desnos is the proto-type Surrealist.  He's the guy who could go into a trance and tell a tale that would be mind-blowing.  Although I suspect he wasn't in a dream state, he knew how to fool Andre Breton and company.  

"The Punishments of Hell" is Desnos’ first prose book.  Written in 1922, I think it was much later published in France.  As mentioned, the gang mentality is very much present, even in this collection of dream prose pieces.  All of Desnos’ famous friends are mentioned in the narrative. As a work produced during the DADA stage emerging into the Surrealist era, it is a fascinating document of its time, place, and, more importantly, the individuals.  Sexual in tone but never pornographic (at least for the contemporary reader), there are 'shocking' imageries in the flavor of the Count de Lautrémont, who inspired "The Punishments of Hell."  Still, it's fascinating how crime and Westerns influence surrealist texts like this book—both in the cinematic world and literature.  In a way, Desnos is writing a thriller but with a different type of imagery.  

The book is very dark but humorous.  All of the named figures, who were friends of Desnos, pretty much end up dead in a bizarre fashion.  There is a homage to his associates and friends, but all living in a cemetery!   In the common grave, those buried are inspirations to Desnos, such as Jarry, Rimbaud, Pierre Souvestre & Marcel Allain (writers of Fantomas)—a beautiful edition from Atlas Press, who seems never to fail the fan or reader.