Louis Aragon was a French novelist, poet, and essayist. He was a leader of the movements in French literature known as Dada and Surrealism. He was born in Paris on October 3, 1897. During the early years of his career he wrote a number of experimental works, including the collection of poems Feu de joie (Bonfire, 1920), which reflected the anarchy of Dada and the lyricism and imagination of Surrealism. With André Breton and Philippe Soupault, he also founded the Surrealist review Littérature (1919). Aragon’s long essay Traité du style (Treatise on Style, 1928) attacked the established values of French society.

In 1930 Aragon embraced the political doctrines of communism and the related aesthetic doctrine of socialist realism. Thereafter he was one of the most active French Communist propagandists. His incendiary poem Front rouge (1931; The Red Front, 1933) called for a revolution in France and brought him a suspended prison sentence and his final break with the Surrealists. During World War II (1939-1945) he was a leading figure in the French Resistance, and after the war he edited a Communist newspaper.

Aragon’s novels, realistic portrayals of modern France, include Les Cloches de Bâle (1934; The Bells of Basel, 1936), Les beaux quartiers (1936; Residential Quarter, 1938), and Aurélien (1945; translated 1946). His historical novel of the romantic period, La Semaine sainte (1958; Holy Week, 1961), was regarded as a masterpiece of its kind. Several volumes of lyric poetry, including Le Crève-coeur (1941; Heartbreak, 1943) and Les Yeux d’Elsa (1942; The Eyes of Elsa, 1944), reflect Aragon’s return to the classic themes of love and patriotism after his break with Surrealism. A novel, Henri Matisse, was published in 1971.

He died in Paris on December 24, 1982.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

{  R e c o m m e n d e d  R e a d i n g  }

• Louis Aragon books available: amazon.co.uk | amazon.com