Jean-Pierre Duprey

Jean-Pierre Duprey (1 January 1930, Rouen – 2 October 1959, Paris) was a French poet and sculptor, one of the modern examples of an accursed poet.

For his whole life, Duprey felt he was being followed by someone else, who was himself even more cite book |last=col.|authorlink|title="Bytosti schopné zemřít"|pages=pp. 159|] ; and he was followed everywhere by thinking about death. He said "I, I shouldn't have got stuck in this galaxy!" cite book |last=Kolář|first=Jiří|authorlink|title=Světová literatura|pages=pp. 88|] . André Breton, fascinated by the darkness and imagery in Duprey's poetry, invited the author to Paris in 1948. Duprey's books are not a celeberation of death, neither do they find comfort in thinking about it. All questions asked in the poems of his last book "The End and the Way" (1970) are left unanswered, but their author found a way somewhere "beyond" (Jouffroy, 1970, quoted in cite book |last=Kolář|first=Jiří|authorlink|title=Světová literatura|pages=pp. 88|] ).

He had a sense for scandals, too. One day he went to the grave or the Unknown Soldier by the Arc de Triomphe and urinated on the eternal flame [ [http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2003summer/4x1.shtml Duprey jailed] ] for which he was arrested and beaten in the jail; later also taken to a mental hospital. Between 1951 and 1958 he did not write and concentrated on working on sculptures. He wrote his final book in 1959 and upon completion, he asked his wife to send the manuscript to Breton. When she returned from the post office, she found him dead; he hanged himself in his studio.

Three days before his death, he said calmly to a friend: "I am allergic to this planet" cite book |last=Kolář|first=Jiří|authorlink|title=Světová literatura|pages=pp. 88|] .

Bibliography

* "Derrière son double", Le Soleil Noir, 1950
* "La Forêt sacrilège", Le Soleil Noir, 1964
* "La Fin et la manière", Le Soleil Noir, 1970
* "Œuvres complètes, annotée par François Di Dio", Bourgois, 1990; again Poésie/Gallimard, 1998
* "Un bruit de baiser ferme le monde", Inedited poems; Le Cherche-Midi, 2001

References

External links

* [http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2003summer/4x1.shtml Short info]
* [http://www.revista.agulha.nom.br/ag53duprey.htm About his work, in Spanish; includes photo]
* [http://www.auribeau.com/postscriptum/pages/ps1duprey.html Photo]