Unpublished René Crevel letters and novel reveal tormented surrealist

A new volume of unpublished works by René Crevel, edited by Alexandre Mare, collects the surrealist writer's correspondence and a previously unknown novel, "L'Arbre de méditation." The book, titled "René Crevel : des os, des poils, du sang," aims to offer an intimate self-portrait. Crevel, born August 10, 1900, in Paris, was a key figure in surrealism who died by suicide on June 18, 1935, aged 34. The letters document his tuberculosis treatments in Swiss sanatoriums, his relationship with Tota Cuevas, and his disillusionment with the 1935 International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture, where a conflict between André Breton and Ilya Ehrenbourg dashed hopes of surrealist-communist alliance. The novel, written between 1930 and 1931, was rejected by Gallimard and José Corti; Mare describes it as "a sort of tale without head or tail." While not a masterpiece, the collection sheds light on Crevel's tormented life and his belief in the "right to unhappiness."