desnos, robert
French poet who joined Andre Breton in the early Surrealist movement, soon becoming one of its most valuable members because of his ability to fall into a hypnotic trance, under which he could recite his dreams, write, and draw. Texts from this period appeared in the Surrealist review Litterature and in his book La Liberte ou l'amour! (1927; "Liberty or Love!"). Humour, tenderness, and eroticism pervade his works, in which acrobatic verbal techniques never detract from the spontaneity of the inspiration. Dreams and reality merge in freely associated images in Corps et biens (1930; "Bodies and Goods"). In 1930 he broke from the doctrinaire Surrealist rigidity of Breton and for a decade wrote motion-picture and radio scripts, including the highly successful Complainte de Fantomas (1933; "Fantomas' Lament").
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| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
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