Dal, Hughes-Alain (Crowe, Thomas Rain)

Why I Am a Monster: Poems

Cullowhee, NC: New Native Press, 1990. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. Signed and Numbered by Thomas Rain Crowe. “Literary 'student' of Baudelaire, contemporarian and 'protege' of Arthur Rimbaud; Hughes-Alain Dal, author of a first book of poems entitled Pourquoi Je Suis Un Monstre, 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 translation of the poems within this book, my inquiries as to his whereabouts, history, heritage, or further bibliography have all been in vain. 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 time-worn 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. As Renitour says in his Preface to the original book; "Alain Dal is a 'true' poet, and one with great things ahead of him." So perhaps fifty years (or more!) have now gone by since his first book was set to print in Paris by Pierre De Ronsard Publishers. And what was to follow?... A total 'turncoat' departure from the literary world? Illness and a premature death? Other volumes of verse buried in obscurity living only a half-life on the shelves of Parisian bookstores? All of these and others remained possibilities in my mind as word by word, phrase by phrase, I archeologically unearthed the inner voice of Alain Dal. A poet much a kin to my own ‘sentimentality' and 'taste', I not only acquired a sympathy for his work, but an enthrallment and a curiosity that led me around by a poetic leash of honest feeling set to music (language) by this young impassioned and imbittered craftsman!” (from Introduction by Thomas Rain Crowe). Offered here is Why I Am a Monster, a book of poems (translated from the French by Thomas Rain Crowe [b. 1949], the co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance) authored by Hughes Alain-Dal. Rumored, as Crowe notes above, to have been a “protégé” of Rimbaud and “student” of Baudelaire, the poems themselves certainly evince that “First Generation Symbolist” flair, but Dal has yet to be confirmed as either. At any rate, these poems are excellent and are rendered with facility into precise, poetic English that retains all the French bombastic charm we attribute to the Symbolists and their project. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance (whose imprint New Native Press published this edition). For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Small-format chapbook in stapled wrappers: "First Printing," as indicated on copyright page; one of "200 copies of 'Pourquoi Je Suis Une Monstre' [...] / printed, signed and numbered by the author [translator] for the / fall of 1990 for New Native Press in limited edition [sic]. / Printed on Astroparche 60 lb. text and assorted cover- / stock on a Silver Master CP-310 photo-offset system / housed at the Sylva Herald Publishing Co.. [...] / The book you hold in your hands is copy # / "71" (hand-written in thin, black ink). This copy is additionally signed by the translator below colophon. Crowe's signature, also in thin, black pen ink, reads: "Ths R^ Crowe" [sic]. In strong fine condition with only mild shelf-wear & variously enunciated instances of light bumping (& equally light creasing) to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; light-to-moderate age-toning throughout, otherwise clean, otherwise clean. Very Fine. [Item #7296]

Price: $30.00