"The Thief of Talent" by Pierre Reverdy & Translated by Ian Seed (Wakefield Press)
April 4, 2023
When I first heard about the book "The Thief of Talent" by Pierre Reverdy, I was expecting an experimental novel. It's not. It's a book-length prose poem that is incredibly moving and beautiful. The book came out in France in 1917 and was almost ignored until at least 1967. In 2016, Wakefield Press did the first English translation by Ian Seed. It's a remarkable book about an artist/poet leaving their scene. A long goodbye note of sorts but also a very poetic look at a world that passes him by - which happens to be Paris 1917.
Reverdy is undoubtedly one of the great poetic voices of the 20th century. His early work exposes a certain amount of doubt in working in a world that is often hostile or, at the very least, suspicious of such activity. The great fellow poet/art critic Max Jacob encouraged Reverdy to write this book, but at the same time, one gathers from this text that their relationship had sharp turns to the left and right when it wanted to go straight ahead. According to Seed's introduction, the big turning point for Reverdy in writing this book was when Jacob hid his writings from Reverdy by closing a chest door in front of him. This act caused a certain amount of stress for Reverdy, even though it was common practice for artists and writers of that time to hide their work from fellow artists due to the fear of being plagiarized.
Maybe it is because Dylan recently won the Nobel Prize for literature, but I couldn't help thinking about his work while reading this book. Dylan is known for 'borrowing' text for his songs/writings, and one wonders if he knew Reverdy's work. I suspect he does. This almost reads like a Dylan book written in the future. Like Dylan, Reverdy is very cinematic with his writing. One gets clear visuals while reading the text. He knows how to paint a picture in one's head. I can't think of a 'new' book that is so important. The loss of identity or question of such a thing is part of 20th-century literature. And I must admit it is also very much part of my work. "The Thief of Talent" is for all those who create something and need to say au revoir
Thanks for the heads-up; you do a great job at such.