Bertrand Lacarelle's 'Arthur Cravan, précipité' Revives the Dadaist Boxer-Poet

Bertrand Lacarelle's book 'Arthur Cravan, précipité' (Éditions Grasset) examines the life of Arthur Cravan, the poet-boxer who disappeared in 1918 in Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Cravan, born Fabian Lloyd in Switzerland and raised in England, arrived in Paris in 1909 and adopted his pseudonym in 1910, the same year he became French amateur boxing champion. He single-handedly wrote his magazine 'Maintenant', filling it with articles, advertisements, insults, and notes. His lectures replaced water with alcohol and debate with combat; on March 6, 1914, he was scheduled to 'lecture, dance, and box' at Les Noctambules, rue Champollion. Cravan insulted Apollinaire, leading to a grotesque apology letter. After his death, Picabia's magazine '391' announced in 1919 that Cravan would give a lecture on Egyptian art in Mexico. Lacarelle includes recently discovered letters. Cravan's multiple identities included nephew of Oscar Wilde, orange picker in California, Pacific sailor, muleteer, grandson of the queen's chancellor, knight of industry, and burglar in Berlin. He fought ex-world light heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in Madrid. Lacarelle positions Cravan as a precursor to Dada and Surrealism, linking him to Apollinaire, Cendrars, Gide, Marinetti, Duchamp, Debord, Mayakovsky, Rimbaud, Desnos, and Fénéon. Graphic designer Frédéric Teschner is among contemporary artists who honor Cravan. Lacarelle argues Cravan's essence commanded action, with words following his life.