The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

BORIS VIAN

No, it isn’t and never will be, for I keep a social watch over the unanimous
capacity of the original organs, and I know that by taking on generally the
superiority of prophetic organization, your heart will never dare to reserve mine.
So, by fixing upon you curtsies and spinnings, I moan these words at you, as a
hoax: ‘‘let’s fear the senses.’’
—mary ann caws

Boris Vian 1920–1959

ville d’avray, france

V

ian was a musician, jazz critic, singer and songwriter, opera librettist,

novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. He was a favorite among

existentialist and post-Surrealist groups in Paris, and his plays were

closely linked to the Theater of the Absurd. He wrote his first novel in ten days for

a publisher looking for a new best-selling American author. Acquainted with

Miles Davis and Dizzie Gillespie, Vian used their experiences as a background on

American race relations for the book. He was twenty-six when J’irai cracher sur

vos tombes (1946) appeared, published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan.

The book was phenomenally successful, selling one hundred thousand copies,

and Vian’s real identity was soon exposed. In 1959 the book was made into a film;

Vian died of a heart attack while watching the preview. Principal works: Can-

tilènes en gelée, 1949; Je voudrais pas crever, 1962.

One Day

One day
There won’t be just the day
There’ll be something more candid, we’ll call it the Jodel
And something else, too, translucent as turpentine
We’ll insert in our eyes with an elegant gesture
There’ll be the orpack, more cruel