A previously untranslated gem of Surrealist prose poetry from the acclaimed French novelistIn 1941 Julien Gracq newly released from a German prisonerofwar camp wrote a series of prose poems that would come to represent the only properly Surrealist writings in his oeuvre. Surrealism provided Gracq with a means of counteracting his disturbing wartime experiences his newfound freedom inspired a new freedom of personal expression and he gave the collection an appropriate title Great Liberty In the occult dictionary of Surrealism the true name of poetry is liberation. Gracq the poet rather than the novelist is at work here Surrealist fireworks lace through bewitching modernist romance fantasy black humor and deadpan absurdism. A later postwar section entitled The Habitable Earth presents Gracq as visionary traveler exploring Andes and Flanders and returning to the narrative impulse of his betterknown fiction.Julien Gracq 19102007 born Louis Poirier is known for such dreamlike novels as The Castle of Argol A Dark Stranger The Opposing Shore and Balcony in the Forest. He was close to the Surrealist movement and Andr Breton in particular to whom he devoted a critical study.