The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle by Philippe Soupault
Translated by Justin Vicari and published by Wakefield Press, 2023
In the best sense, Wakefield Press is like that coffee break with that oatmeal cookie you have been looking forward to during the entire day. It’s a press that consistently delivers the goods and never disappoints the adventuresome reader. Philippe Soupault is one of my favorite French writers, and the fact that he’s tied to DADA and is a co-founder of Surrealism is a plus. But also, one should read Age of Assassins: The Story of Prisoner No. 1234, which is the best memoir of anyone who wrote about the Nazi occupation of France; when you read that, it is hard to connect that this is the same fellow who wrote the classic Surrealist text. But alas, he is, and this early book, The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle, is a superb minimalist take on a classic adventure story. Even though Soupault has never been to Greenland, his fantasy idealization of that part of the world is hysterical.
One of the significant aspects of Surrealist writing is the ability to jump into a world or a subject matter where the author has no clue about the location, except to make it romantic or bring it to an exotic ideal of a place. These days, it is a dangerous thing to do as a writer, but Soupault comes from a world where the imagination rules the day, and with that thought, he wrote a remarkable piece of literature. Easily read in one setting, this is half a journal and the other half a narrative. Absurd to the core, Soupault reminds me of Raymond Queneau in that he’s playful with the language and format. So, from the absurdity of his Surrealist life to his experience being a prisoner of the French Vichy, Soupault has a touch of lightness that becomes implanted in one’s consciousness.
One can buy The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle at your local bookstore or online here: ARTBOOK.
Sublime poet, novelist and thinker.