Haunted House
Pierre Reverdy's surrealistic tale Maison hantee was written in 1928 and first published in 1930. Andre Breton would later include it in a list of the ten books he would most like to take to a desert island. John Ashbery's translation of this modern classic is part of his lifelong engagement with French literature – an engagement that has vitally informed his own work in poetry, literature and the arts.
About the author
Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne, France, in 1889. After studying in Toulouse he moved to Paris in 1910, where he met Picasso and Matisse. He edited the magazine Nord-Sud, which published the early work of Andre Breton, Louis Aragon and other Surrealists. He died in 1960.