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Michaux Henri 1899 - 1984 (85)

He who has rejected his demons badgers us to death with his angels.


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Michaux



Henri Michaux (24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984), was a Belgian poet, writer and painter who wrote in French. His writings are influenced by surrealism but have their own peculiar character; they are descriptions of imaginary worlds, dream recordings, travelogues, art criticism and short stories with the best known stories of Mr. Plume, a man who has a deeply humorous way of dealing with the world.

He was born on May 24, 1899 in Namur, Belgium and after school he started studying Medicine but soon stopped and sailed on seagoing ships chasing adventure. The decommissioning of many ships after the First World War forced him to leave the sea and do various jobs on land to survive while at the same time he has started writing since 1922. From 1930 to 1931, he traveled to Japan, China and India and immersed himself in Eastern culture, Buddhist philosophy, and Chinese calligraphy with the ideograms that influenced his painting. He also traveled to Africa and America until 1939, staying in Brazil for two years before returning to France. In 1955 he became a French citizen and lived the rest of his life in Paris with his family. In 1965 he won the National Prize for Literature, which he refused to receive. He died on October 19, 1984 in Paris.