French Literature Reviews - 2026

C. Aurouet, Desnos and Cinema
Art and Visual Culture

Carole Aurouet,

Desnos y el cine,

collection "coleccion Luis Bunuel, Cine y vanguardias", 2018.

EAN13: 9788417633257.

Robert Desnos was born five years after the inception of cinematography and immediately developed a deep passion for this new medium of expression. His enthusiasm was such that he engaged with the seventh art in a dual capacity. First, he wrote about cinema: film reviews, studies of works by various filmmakers, and articles addressing issues beyond the films themselves (publishing over eighty pieces between 1923 and 1930). Furthermore, he wrote for cinema: Desnos authored around twenty cinetexts—only four of which were published during his lifetime, between 1925 and 1933—reflecting what he longed to see on the screens of dark movie theaters. This volume sheds light on the passionate and fruitful relationship that Robert Desnos maintained with cinema.

The intersections between literature and the visual arts frequently animated the avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century, as writers and poets sought new forms of expression in modern technology. Robert Desnos engaged with this burgeoning cultural landscape through both critical commentary and creative output, publishing over eighty pieces between 1923 and 1930 and authoring around twenty cinetexts between 1925 and 1933. Readers interested in French avant-garde cinema, surrealism, and the interwar cultural sphere may find this study relevant to their pursuits.