Claude Pélieu



Claude Pélieu was a French poet and artist born in Beauchamp (near Pontoise, Val d'Oise ) on December 20, 1934 and died December 24, 2002 in Norwich, New York, USA

1934-1952
The 20th of December, 1934, at 10 a.m. Claude Pélieu was born in a clinic in Pontoise to Pierre Pélieu and Marguerite. They lived in Beauchamp, near Pontoise.

1952
After graduation, 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 Father Gilles Vallée, Claude met the future architect Henri Caubel who arranged in 1999 to 2001 retrospective shows of Claude Pélieu’s collages.

1952-1953
Claude Pélieu worked as a library aide at La maison des amis des livres, a bookstore founded by Adrienne Monnier (the friend of Sylvia Beach, a second cousin of Mary Beach (Claude Pélieu’s second wife))

1955
Claude Pélieu’s first texts were published in journal Le Libertaire (or Lib), a political journal, close to the Lettrist movement. At the time, the future poet is politically active in the libertarian movement. This is 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).

1956
Claude Pélieu participated in a group show at the bookstore/gallery The Sun in the Head organized by the mother of Jean-Jacques Lévêque, Marguerite Fos.

July 14, 1959-1960
Claude meets Lula at a Ball at Vieux Colombier Street. Lula and Claude had a passionate relationship often accompanied by misery. They were married on May 11, 1960.

1962
Claude meets Mary Beach.

1963
Claude and Lula separate. The poet has an addiction to heroin. In November 1963, Claude leaves for San Francisco with Mary Beach.

1964-1968
Claude Pélieu lived in San Francisco, New York and Hawaii. Automatic Pilot was published at the end of 1964, in Mary Beach’s translation. She also translated, with the assistance of Claude Pélieu, several books of William Burroughs, Bob Kaufman, Allen Ginsberg.

1969-1979
Has a dozen or so books published through 1979, mostly with Bourgois, Soleil Noir, and 10/18.

1979-2002
Claude Pélieu devotes himself to collage while continuing to write and publish irregularly. At the end of the 1990s, several exhibits of his collages occur in France. He also has several new books published right up to his death December 24, 2002 in New York.

English

 * 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

French

 * 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

 * 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