Translated by Michael Bullock, Painted Stars is a short book of evocative prose poems by Pierre Reverdy, one of the most important French poets of the Twentieth Century. In the poems objects seem alive, coming into focus and disappearing as the point-of-view shifts, nothing in these landscapes of inner impressions ever finally settled.

Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne in 1889 and arrived in Paris in October 1910. It was there, at the famous Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre that he met Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Louis Aragon, André Breton, Philippe Soupault and Tristan Tzara. In 1917, together with Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire, Reverdy founded the influential journal Nord-Sud ("North-South") which contained many Dadaist and then surrealist contributions. It continued until 1918. Reclusive by nature, Reverdy began to distance himself from these circles, and in 1926, at the age of 37, he left Paris, converted to Catholicism and went to live in Solesmes, home of the great St. Peter's Abbey. He stayed there until his death in 1960.

Pierre Reverdy's profile page

Michael Bullock was born in London in 1918. He has devoted himself intensively to writing and visual art since his mid to late teens. In 1936 he visited the great Surrealist Exhibition at the National Gallery and has remained a committed Surrealist writer and artist ever since. This was followed by a prolonged visit to India, which also made a lasting impression on him that can be clearly seen in his work. He is the author of more than fifty works of poetry and fiction and two plays.

Michael Bullock's profile page