La bibliothèque d'Infosurr
Atlas press
Atlas began by accident. Two of us were bemoaning
the lack of the sort of writing we were interested in reading.
Ten years ago many important works remained untranslated or had
been allowed to go out of print (none of Harry Mathews' novels
were available, the major works of Surrealism likewise). We knew
there was a large body of writing that had been barely touched
upon in the English language, despite it being the acknowledged
basis of twentieth century literature in both France and Germany.
English and US publishers seemed, with a few exceptions, to ignore
this whole area.
It is a hard area to define, this "anti-tradition"
rooted in Romanticism, which has retained an obstinate and coherent
presence in various guises within an inimical host : the literary
establishment. The idea, or actuality, of the avant-garde as
a form of group activity and expression is often dated from the
fort-nation of the group of German Romantics in Jena around Schlegel's
review Athenaeum (1798 - 1800). There were close contacts between
the English and other European Romantics, translations by and
of Carlyle and Coleridge in particular, later on Baudelaire made
his extraordinary translations of Poe.
At the turn of this century,
connections between English and continental authors were still
extensive and mutual translation was common in both Britain and
the USA. In the 1890's, Arthur Symons and George Moore were not
isolated examples of authors equally at home in England and France,
and many of their French contemporaries visited London regularly.
The separation between English and continental writing
began around the time of World War 1. The great break with the
nineteenth century : the international Dada movement, had no followers
in Britain arid even went unreported (with the single exception
of F.S. Flint).
Dada was active in France, Germany, Spain,
Italy, Romania, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, even the USA and Japan.
Expressionism, Surrealism, and their offshoots were likewise deliberately
ignored, TS. Eliot with his American's admiration for the "English"
tradition was especially to blame here due to his powerful editorial
position at the Criterion and at Faber & Faber, and what there
was of an avant-garde in London, the Bloomsburys, likewise had
few contacts with European literary contemporaries.
Essentially none of this writing was translated
at all until the few initiatives made by the English Surrealist
Group in the 30's (which were naturally enough restricted to Surrealist
writers) and the appearance in English of some favoured authors
quite outside of their cultural context (Kafka appeared, but not
Walser, for example). After World War II Britain again retreated
into insularity, many writers travelling abroad to escape it,
as they had done in the thirties. Only the upheavals of the 1960's
impelled English authors and publishers to take notice of the
cultural underpinning of events whose theoretical roots stretched
back several decades.
A new generation of authors appeared, published
in the "underground press," a generation much more aware
of, and interested in, the experiments of the last decades. A
few publishers began putting out some of the more important French
arid German authors - rather erratically and at random (90% of
the titles in Calder & Boyars' "French Surrealism"
series were by authors only slightly associated with the group,
or actively antagonistic to it). Various magazines flourished
for a while, publishing other more recent areas of the continental
avant-garde : Trevor Winkfield's Juillard, Paul Buck's Curtains,
to name but two.
This activity petered out by the late 1970's, and
the advent of a political climate completely at odds with this
anti-tradition and all it stands for, seemed to bring this period
to an end. The current opposition to all avant-garde positions
(and their critiques) is all too evident among the more reactionary
and right-wing members of the literary and philosophical establishment,
not to mention the tabloid press. Despite this generally philistine
atmosphere, a few publishers in Britain have dipped their toe
in the water', and for a while this was matched by the USA. (see
note)
So we started exceedingly modestly and with no capital.
Between 1983 and 1985 we published three annual collections of
writing drawn from all areas of this antitradition. The first
was simply a photocopied typescript, the last professionally typeset
(but unprofessionally proof-read) and printed in a respectable
print run. Since then our number of titles has gradually increased,
but as a small publisher we simply haven't the resources to publish
more than we do. We try to make up for this by publishing more
carefully, at least so far as the quality of translation is concerned.
Some larger publishers seem to put out translations that have
been barely read, and academic publishers notoriously issue perfectly
accurate translations lacking an ounce of poetry. Enough criticism
What do we publish? A list :
| Achim Von Arnim | Georges Bataille | André Breton & Philippe Soupault | André Breton & Paul Éluard | Pol Bury |
| Italo Calvino | Collège Of 'Pataphysics | Arthur Cravan | Robert Desnos | Rikki Ducornet |
| Xavier Forneret | Remy de Gourmont | Richard Huelsenbeck | J.-K. Huysmans | Alfred Jarry |
| Michel Leiris | Georges Limbour | Marcel Mariën | Harry Mathews | Bernard Noël |
| Paul Nougé | OULIPO | Oskar Panizza | Benjamin Péret | Raymond Queneau |
| Jacques Rigaut | Georges Rodenbach | Raymond Roussel | Saint-Pol-Roux | Alberto Savinio |
| Roland Topor | Julien Torma | Jacques Vaché | Unica Zurn | & co. |
- ARKHIVE ONE : DADA BERLIN, avec l'Almanach Dada de Richard Huelsenbeck
- ARKHIVE TWO les symbolistes et les écadents français, avec Le Livre des masques de Remy de Gourmont
- ARKHIVE THREE : GEORGES BATAILLE & ACEPHALE, avec l'ENCYCLOPADIA ACEPHALICA
- ARKHIVE FOUR : FLUXUS
- ARKHIVE FIVE : ERIK SATIE, avec les &ecute;crits du musicien
- THE NEXT ARKHIVE : THE OULIPO & ITS OFFSPRING
- A venir : ARKHIVES ON GRAND JEU, VIENNA ACTIONISTS, SIXTIES COUNTER-CULTURE, COLLEGE OF PATAPHYSICS, UBU.
Its characteristics ?
We refute, first of all, the death of modernism, the avant-garde,
experimental writing, call it what you will. The modern has always
drawn on the past, often from totally unexpected aspects of it
(Surrealism derived much from Lautreamont, considered by his,
and the Surrealists', contemporaries to be hopelessly incoherent
and old-fashioned). The writing we want to publish is modern,
albeit from the last one hundred years, but not solemn; experimental
but not mere formalism; humorous but not (often) frivolous; extremist,
demanding, delightful, sometimes appalling...
Many people have helped us over this period. Harry
Mathews responded with great kindness when we contacted him out
of the blue to ask for things for the first anthology, and his
continued support has been unstinting (he is co-editing the Oulipo
arkhive). David Gascoyne showed similar generosity with the second
anthology and after : his translation of the Magnetic Fields, our
first book, is now in its fourth printing to coincide with this
exhibition.
We have numberless translators to thank, but Barbara
Wright, Stanley Chapman, Iain White, John Ashbery and Alexis Lykiard
have given us wonderful French versions of difficult works. Our
project to translate the important works of jarry and the College
of Pataphysics would have been impossible without the assistance
of two collegians : Thieri Foulc and Paul Gayot. There are many
more - not to mention a number of readers who have bought our
books consistently for the last decade.
We would also like to thank the various institutions
who have provided financial assistance with translation grants :
The Elephant Trust, The Arts Council of Great Britain, The French
Ministry of Culture, The Austrian Institute and Intemationes.
Finally, this publication has been produced to accompany
an exhibition at the bookshop/gallery workfortheeyetodo. Simon
Cutts, Erica van Horn and Maggie Smith made this possible : our
especial thanks to them, and to Steve Sanderson who took the photographs
for this catalogue.
Notes :
Collins Harvill, Quartet with its Encounter series, and Dedalus which does good work publishing the 19th century authors of this tradition. f Unfortunately a number of the American publishers have gone under, or altered their approach (North Point, Eridanos, Lapis) but there are still active presses, notably the tiny, but impressive, Exact Change, and M1T Zone Books which cover some aspects of this writing.
Une adresse :
27 Old Gloucester street
London WCIN 3XX
See the books
Bibliothèque - Bulletin Infosurr - Abonnement - Menu central - Message