Dal, Hughes-Alain

Why I Am a Monster (Pourquoi Je Suis Une Monstre)

Sylva, NC: New Native Press, 1990. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Signed by translator & publisher Thomas Rain Crowe. "Literary 'student' of Baudelaire, contemporarian and 'protégé' of Arthur Rimbaud; Hughes-Alain Dal...is a mystery--- During the past year in which I have worked slowly and sensitively in an attempt to render true to the American idiom, through French landscape, the translations of the poems within this book, my inquiries as to his whereabouts, history, heritage, or further bibliography have all been in vain...So, who then, is this young passionate Parisian so disillusioned yet filled with so much promise? With not quite the youth of a Rimbaud, or the wisdom-inspired age of a Baudelaire, he turns up in a timeworn and coverless manuscript on the dusty shelves of an old San Francisco used-bookstore full of the rage and passion of one of the most dramatic literary periods in modern history." (from Introduction by Thomas Rain Crowe) A collection of poems by the enigmatic French poet Hughes-Alain Dal, translated into English & rescued from obscurity by Thomas Rain Crowe, the acclaimed poet & publisher who was at the center of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance during the 1970s (see our book, Starting From San Francisco, Item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). In SFSF, Crowe discusses his interest in Dal (see esp. 178-179), whom he describes as "...a kind of surrealist-absurdist poet from early in the 20th century." With a contemporary prose-poetic introduction by Jean-Michel Renaitour, who writes: "He (Dal) is twenty years old--- and already he is sad!" An austerely handsome early chapbook production of Crowe's New Native Press imprint. At colophon, it is noted that this is one of an edition of 200 copies signed & numbered by Crowe, but the line below is unfilled & his signature is not located on that page. However, Crowe has hand-written his signature in bold blue ink below his printed name following his introduction. We therefore conclude that this is a publisher/ translator's personal-uncirculated copy. An extremely rare & important work of literary translation-resurrection with ultimate association & provenance. In very fine condition with only a bit of rubbing, scratching & fading to front, back covers & stapled spine; a few tiny bumps & creases at thin edges & corners of same; mild spotting & rubbing to upper & esp. lower edges of text block; very small area of rubbing/smudging at lowest side-edge/ corner of same. Interior very fine with only miniscule bumps at corners of a few page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #4045]

Price: $40.00