R.J. Dent's Blog, page 2
February 9, 2025
The Future’s Eve
by Villiers de l’Isle-Adam
Translated into English by R J Dent
A world-renowned inventor agrees to create an ideal woman for his friend, a young English aristocrat – and the first female android is created.
Originally published in 1886, The Future’s Eve is a symbolist novel and a key text of the Decadent movement, notable for its literary experimentation, as well as for being the first novel to popularise the word and concept of the ‘android’. Situated somewhere between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, The Future’s Eve centres on a fictionalised version of the great inventor, Thomas Edison, who creates an ideal mechanical woman.
R J Dent’s new modern English version of The Future’s Eve is the first 21st-century translation of this important work of 19th-century science fiction.
Villiers de l’Isle Adam was one of the greatest symbolist writers of the 19th century. Originally published in 1886, The Future’s Eve is a stunning work, noted for popularizing the term ‘android’.
Book details:
Title: The Future’s Eve
Author: Villiers de l’Isle-Adam
Translator: R J Dent
ISBN: TBA
Format: Paperback/ebook/audio book
Language: English
Pages: 345
Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.45 inches
Publisher: Soyos Books
Publication date: February 2025
January 25, 2025
TYPO 9
The International Journal of Prototypes
Like a robot assembled in a subterranean laboratory, this issue contains prototypical pieces from around the world. Many contributors were previously seen in so-called Obscure Publications. Others have been freshly translated from rare French, Belgian, and Russian books and magazines. Some authors are well-known in avant-garde or fantasy circles. Some artists & writers are just breaking through. But all have been brought together to create this sublime issue for your pleasure.
FEATURING: Alphonse Allais; Chiara Ambrosio; Robert Archambeau; Pierre Bettencourt; Greg Boyd; Terry Bradford; H.V. Chao; Lynn Crawford; Caroline Crépiat; R J Dent; Mark Ducharme; Jean-Luc Garneau; Edward Gauvin; Vasilisk Gnedov; Kirpal Gordon; Michael Gould; André Hardellet; Jordan Jones; Amy Kurman; Joel Lipman; Emilia Loseva; Stephen-Paul Martin; George MacLennan; Henri Michaux; Claudio Parentela; Angelo Pastormerlo; Gabriel & Marcel Piqueray; Bernard Quiriny; Doug Skinner; Renée Vivien; Danny Vinkler; Bill Wolak.
Product details:
Title: TYPO 9
Subtitle: The International Journal of Prototypes
ISBN-13: 979-8992-3826-00
ASIN: B0DV3ZK6QV
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 152
Publisher: Black Scat Books
Publication Date: January 24, 2025
Item Weight: 10.1 ounces
Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.38 inches
Journal Details: https://blackscatbooks.com/2025/01/25/typo-9-a-fusion-of-avant-garde-literature/
Purchase Link (US): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DV3ZK6QV/
Purchase Link (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DV3ZK6QV/
October 13, 2024
October 12, 2024
Screaming at the Window
The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers
15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Fall
A review by Wendy J. Fox in Electric Lit.
The original review can be found here: https://electricliterature.com/15-small-press-books-you-should-be-reading-this-fall/?fbclid=IwY2xjawF2N75leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXe1ailwBztCvh-MQu4EspkIHfaEuRHTqIZ5eDiBNqmu2xTizfSG51KSiw_aem_SAFjrpSDTYjf2yzMRvIoGg
Synopsis:
Based on details and information reported in contemporaneous newspaper reports, Screaming at the Window is the true and tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the young daughter of Louise, an aristocratic mother and Ėmile, a former dean of the faculty of letters, who became known throughout France as The Prisoner of Poitiers (La Séquestrée de Poitiers).
Just before her twenty-fifth birthday, Blanche Monnier was imprisoned in an upstairs room by her mother and her brother. In May 1901, an anonymous letter alerted the police to the fact that Blanche was locked in a dark room with padlocked shutters. According to the letter, Blanche had been imprisoned for twenty-five years. When the police found her, she was half-starved, naked, sedated and screaming.
Part French history, part true crime study, part courtroom drama, Screaming At The Window is Blanche Monnier’s harrowing story.
Book details:
Title: Screaming at the Window
Subtitle: The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers
Author: R J Dent
ISBN: 979-8-9865233-9-2
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 282
Genre: True Crime/French History
Publication Date: September 17 2024
Publisher: KERNPUNKT Press
Purchase link: http://www.kernpunktpress.com/store/p42/screaming.html
Purchase link (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Screaming-Window-Blanche-Prisoner-Poitiers/dp/B0D8ZJTF7V/
Purchase link (US): https://www.amazon.com/Screaming-Window-Blanche-Prisoner-Poitiers/dp/B0D8ZJTF7V/
October 10, 2024
Misfortunes of the Immortals
Misfortunes of the Immortals is Paul Éluard and Max Ernst’s second Surrealist collaboration. Their first was Repetitions, a poetry collection.
In Misfortunes of the Immortals the image was no longer relegated to the function of mere illustration. Ernst and Éluard reversed the process, so that instead of starting with a text that would need an illustration, Ernst created collages and Éluard would then write texts based on the images.
The publication of Misfortunes of the Immortals in 1922 coincided with the transition of Dadaism to Surrealism in Paris.
This is the first twenty-first century English translation of Misfortunes of the Immortals and it reveals that the collaboration between Éluard and Ernst was a successful attempt to create surprising juxtapositions and to negate the notion of the singular author.
Book details:
Title: Misfortunes of the Immortals
Author: Paul Éluard
Illustrator: Max Ernst
Translator: R J Dent
ISBN: 978-1-4452-4683-3
Language: English & French (Bilingual Edition)
Pages: 50
Format: Paperback
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in / 152 x 229 mm,
Publisher: Incunabula
Publication Date: September 9th, 2024
Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/misfortunes-immortals/
Misfortunes of the Immortals at Incunabula: https://incunabulamedia.com/surreality
Misfortunes of the Immortals at Lulu.com: https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-eluard-and-max-ernst-and-r-j-dent/misfortunes-of-the-immortals/paperback/product-yvn6er6.html?q=Misfortunes&page=1&pageSize=4
October 9, 2024
The Surrealist Manifesto
André Breton
Translated into Modern English by R J Dent
Iincunabula presents a new modern English translation, by the acclaimed translator and writer R J Dent, of André Breton’s The Surrealist Manifesto, a work whose influence on the artistic world of its time was enormous and whose repercussions are still perceptible anywhere that artists and free-thinkers raise the flag of revolt.
First published in French 1924, and first translated into English in 1969, this new edition of The Surrealist Manifesto has been published to commemorate the official centenary of the Surrealist movement. It is a companion volume to R J Dent’s translation of Breton’s Soluble Fish (also available from Incunabula), and will hopefully address the general lack of comprehension that Breton’s work has been met with by the English speaking world.
R J Dent’s English translation of this key text casts new light on the intricacies and subtleties of Breton’s writing that have always presented a challenge to the translator. This is likely to be the definitive translation, and is therefore essential reading for students and fans of Surrealism and literature in general.
Book details:
Title: The Surrealist Manifesto
Author: André Breton
Translator: R J Dent
ISBN: 978-1-4452-4380-1
Language: English & French (Bilingual Edition)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 64
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in / 152 x 229 mm
Publisher: Incunabula
Publication date: October 2024
Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/the-surrealist-manifesto-andre-breton/
Book details: https://incunabulamedia.com/surreality
September 16, 2024
Screaming At The Window
The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers
by R J Dent
Screaming At The Window (the tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers) by R J Dent is published on 17 September 2024 by KERNPUNKT Press.
Based on details and information reported in contemporaneous newspaper reports, Screaming at the Window is the true and tragic story of Blanche Monnier (the young daughter of Louise, an aristocratic mother and Ėmile, a former dean of the faculty of letters), who became known throughout France as The Prisoner of Poitiers (La Séquestrée de Poitiers).
Just before her twenty-fifth birthday, Blanche Monnier was imprisoned in an upstairs room by her mother and her brother. In May 1901, an anonymous letter alerted the police to the fact that Blanche was imprisoned in a dark room with padlocked shutters. According to the letter, Blanche had been imprisoned for twenty-five years. When the police found her, she was half-starved, naked, sedated and screaming.
Part French history, part true crime study, part courtroom drama, Screaming At The Window is Blanche Monnier’s harrowing story.
Book details:
Title: Screaming At The Window
Subtitle: The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers
Author: R J Dent
ISBN: 979-8-9865233-9-2
Language: English
Cover Art: Symbolic Study (1893) Edvard Munch
Genre: True Crime/French History
Format: Paperback
Pages: 281
Dimensions: 9″x6″x1″
Weight: 12 oz.
Publisher: Kernpunkt Press
Publication Date: 17 September 2024
Screaming at the Window at Kernpunkt Press’s website:
http://www.kernpunktpress.com/store/p42/screaming.html
Screaming at the Window at R J Dent’s website:
http://www.rjdent.com/screaming-at-the-window/
Screaming at the Window at Asterism:
September 9, 2024
Misfortunes of the Immortals
by Paul Eluard and Max Ernst
Translated into English by R J Dent
Misfortunes of the Immortals was Paul Éluard and Max Ernst’s second Surrealist collaboration – their first being Repetitions, a poetry collection. In Misfortunes of the Immortals the image was no longer relegated to the function of mere illustration; Ernst and Éluard reversed the process, so that instead of starting with a text that needed an illustration, Ernst created collages and Éluard then wrote texts based on the images. The publication of Misfortunes of the Immortals in 1922 coincided with the transition of Dadaism to Surrealism in Paris.
This is the first twenty-first century English translation of Misfortunes of the Immortals and it reveals that the collaboration between Éluard and Ernst was a successful attempt to create surprising juxtapositions, and to negate the notion of the singular author.
Book details:
Title: Misfortunes of the Immortals
Author: Paul Éluard
Illustrator: Max Ernst
Translator: R J Dent
ISBN: 978-1-4452-4683-3
Language: English & French (Bilingual Edition)
Pages: 50
Format: Paperback
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in / 152 x 229 mm,
Publisher: Incunabula
Publication Date: 9th September 2024
Purchase link: https://incunabulamedia.com/surreality
August 23, 2024
Scattered Leaves
by René Crevel
Translated into modern English by R J Dent
Book details:
Title: Scattered Leaves
Author: René Crevel
Translator: R J Dent
Illustrator: D M Mitchell
ISBN: 978-1-4452-4211-8
Format: Paperback
Language: English and French (Bilingual edition)
Pages: 130
Publication date: August 23, 2024
Publisher: Incunabula
Scattered Leaves at Incunabula: https://incunabulamedia.com/surreality
June 29, 2024
The Pocket Erotica Series
Published by New Urge Editions
The New Urge Editions Pocket Erotica series includes several works in translation by R J Dent.
These Include:
Charles Baudelaire: Selected Erotic Poems. Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/selected-erotic-poems/
Louis Aragon: Jean-Fucque. Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/jean-fucque/
Marquis de Sade: Retaliation. Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/retaliation/
Marquis de Sade: The Self-Made Cuckold. Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/the-self-made-cuckold/
Marquis de Sade: A Judge Deceived. Book details: http://www.rjdent.com/a-judge-deceived/
Various Authors: The Pocket Erotica Reader. Book details: https://rjdent.com/the-pocket-erotica-reader/
Details of all of R J Dent’s books are at: http://www.rjdent.com/
