Claude Pélieu

Claude Pélieu
Born	Claude Pélieu (1934-12-20)December 20, 1934 Beauchamp, Val-d'Oise, France
Died	Norwich, New York, U.S.
Pen name	Claude Pelieu-Washburn, Claude Lieu
Occupation	Author, Artist & Translator
Literary movement	Beat Generation, Postmodernism

Claude Pélieu (December 20, 1934 – December 24, 2002) was a French postmodernist poet and graphical artist. He lived in France until 1963, when he moved to the United States, where he spent the rest on his life. Pélieu wrote in French, German and English.

Biography

Pélieu was born to Pierre and Marguerite Pélieu on December 20, 1934 in a clinic in Pontoise, Val d'Oise, north of Paris. They lived in the village of Beauchamp, near Pontoise.

After graduation in 1952, Claude Pélieu entered the School of the Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1952 he participated in a group show in Paris at the Galerie du Haut-Pavé in the Center Saint-Jacques on the rue Danton. Through priest Gilles Vallée, Claude met the future architect Henri Caubel who would later arrange retrospective shows of Claude Pélieu’s collages between 1999 to 2001. From 1952 to 1953, Pélieu worked as a library aide at La Maison des amis des livres, a bookstore founded by Adrienne Monnier, a friend of Sylvia Beach, a second cousin of Mary Beach (Claude Pélieu’s second wife).

Claude Pélieu’s first texts were published in 1955 in Le Libertaire (or Lib), a political journal close to the Lettrist movement. At that time he was politically active in the libertarian movement. This was the beginning of Claude Pélieu’s interest in the poetry of Jacques Prévert but also in collage. He continued to draw assiduously (the sale of drawings provided a meager living). In 1956, he participated in a group show at the bookstore/gallery The Sun in the Head organized by the mother of Jean-Jacques Lévêque, Marguerite Fos.

On July 14, 1959 Claude met Lula at a ball at the Vieux colombier Street. Lula and Claude had a passionate relationship often accompanied by misery. They married on May 11, 1960.

Pélieu met Mary Beach in 1962, and one year later Claude and Lula separated. The poet had an addiction to heroin. In November 1963, Pélieu left for San Francisco with Mary Beach.

In the United States, Claude Pélieu lived in San Francisco, New York and Hawaii. Automatic Pilot was published at the end of 1964, translated from French into English by Mary. She also translated, with the assistance of Claude, several books by William Burroughs, Bob Kaufman and Allen Ginsberg.

Years from 1969 to 1979 were particularly prolific for Pélieu, who had a dozen or so books published through 1979, mostly by Bourgois, Soleil Noir, and 10/18.

Between 1979 and 2002, Claude Pélieu devoted himself to collage while continuing to write and publish irregularly. At the end of the 1990s, several exhibits of his collages took place in France. He also had several new books published right up to his death December 24, 2002 in Norwich, New York.

Bibliography

French language

• Cahier de l'Herne Burroughs/Pélieu/Kaufman, L'Herne editions, Paris 1968.
• Ce que dit la bouche d'ombre dans le bronze-étoile d'une tête (What The Shadow Mouth says in the bronze-star of a head), Le soleil noir editions, Paris 1969
• Le Journal Blanc du hasard (The White Journal of Chance), Bourgois editions, Paris 1969
• Embruns d'exils traduits du silence (Sprays of exile translated from silence), Bourgois editions, Paris 1971
• Jukeboxes, 10/18 editions, Paris 1972
• Infra Noir (Below Black), with Erró & Thierry Agullo, Le Soleil noir editions, Paris 1972
• Tatouages mentholés et cartouches d'aube (Mint Tattoos and Dawn Cartridges), 10/18, Paris 1973
• Kali Yug Express, Bourgois editions, Paris 1974
• Coca néon arc-en-ciel polaroid (Coca neon polaroid rainbow), Bourgois editions, Paris 1976 / Cherry Valley Editions
• Dust Bowl Motel Poems, Bourgois editions, Paris 1977
• Pommes bleues électriques (Blue Electric Apples), Bourgois editions, Paris 1979
• Trains de nuit (Night trains), Le Cherche Midi editions, Paris 1979
• Cartes postales USA (Postcards USA), Cééditions, Toulouse 1979.
• Indigo Express, Le Livre à venir editions, Paris 1986
• Koans & Haikus, L'atelier de l'agneau editions, 1988
• La Rue est un rêve (The Street is a Dream), Le castor astral editions, Paris 1989
• Légende noire (Black Legend), Le Rocher editions, Monaco 1991
• Dear Laurie, Cahiers de nuit editions, Caen 1996
• Et vous aurez raison d'avoir tort! (And you are right to be wrong!) (Texts 1971-1977), SUEL editions, Guarbecque 1996
• Studio Réalité (Reality Studio), Le castor astral editions, Paris 1999
• Art Into Thick Air, collages, La Notonecte editions, Rennes 1999
• Soupe de lézard (Lizard Soup), La Digitale editions, Quimper 2000
• Boomerangs, La Notonecte editions, Rennes 1999 (reissued in 2001)
• Fusion, Voix editions, 2001
• Starquake, La Notonecte editions, Rennes 2001
• Anthologie introductive à l'oeuvre de Claude Pélieu (Introductory anthology to the work of Claude Pélieu), L'Arachnoide editions, 2003
• Je suis un cut-up vivant (I am a living cut-up), L'Arganier editions, Paris 2008
• Un amour de beatnik (A Beatnik Love), Non lieu editions, Paris 2012

German language

• Mary Beach/Claude Pélieu, Collagen, Verlag Peter Engstler, 2011
• Art Into Thick Air (collages, color version), Verlag Peter Engstler, 2011
• Kali Yug Express, Verlag Peter Engstler, 2011
• Storgerausche vom Telegraphendraht (Whistling Down The Wire), Verlag Peter Engstler, 2011

English language

• Automatic pilot, City Lights Books, San Francisco 1964
• With Revolvers Aimed... Finger Bowls, preface by William S. Burroughs, Beach Books Texts and documents, San Francisco, 1967
• So who owns death TV?, collaboration with William S. Burroughs and Carl H. Weissner, Beach Texts Books, San Francisco 1967
• Scripts with collages Charles Plymell, Bob Cobbing ed., London 1967
• Opal USA, Beach Books, 1968
• Coca Neon / Polaroid Rainbow, Cherry Valley Editions, 1975
• Whistling Down the Wire, Cherry Valley Editions, 1977
• Xerox Blues, 1982
• Kali Yug Express, Bottle of Smoke Press 2012

External links

• The Beach Plymell Collection - Mary Beach & Claude Pélieu Art