Henri Michaux defies common critical definition. Critics have compared his work to such diverse artists as Kafka, Goya, Swift, Klee, and Beckett. Allen Ginsberg called Michaux “genius,” and Jorge Luis Borges wrote that Michaux’s work “is without equal in the literature of our time.” This anthology contains substantial selections from almost all of Michaux’s major works, most never before published in English, and allows readers to explore the haunting verbal and pictorial landscape of a twentieth-century visionary.

“The first English-language text that selects from the full range of Michaux’s work. . . . A useful overview of the artistic output of an important figure in European arts and letters, one whose full significance has yet to be reckoned.”—Translation Review

“David Ball has assembled and translated a stunning selection of Michaux’s works. . . . We feel the fears, hysteria, and humor, and respond to the beauty and awe.”—Elizabeth T. Gray, Harvard Review

Co-winner of the 1994-95 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Translation of a Literary Work, The Modern Language Association