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{{Short description|French writer (1901–1990)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{lead too short|date=October 2017}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}
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[[File:Michel Leiris.JJ.1984.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Michel Leiris]]
'''Julien Michel Leiris''' ({{IPA|fr|lɛʁis|lang}}; 20 April 1901, [[Paris]]<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research|url=http://www.casaruibarbosa.gov.br/arquivos/file/entrevista%20current%20anthropology%20Michel%20Leiris.pdf|journal=Chicago Journal}}</ref> – 30 September 1990, [[Saint-Hilaire, Essonne]]) was a French [[surrealist]] writer and [[ethnographer]]. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with [[Georges Bataille]] and head of research in ethnography at the [[French National Centre for Scientific Research|CNRS]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michel Leiris|url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/contributors/michel-leiris|access-date=2020-07-28|publisher=MIT Press|language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
Michel Leiris obtained his ''baccalauréat'' in philosophy at the [[Lycée Janson de Sailly]] in 1918 and after a brief attempt at studying chemistry, he developed a strong interest in jazz and poetry. Between 1921 and 1924, Leiris met a number of important figures such as [[Max Jacob]], [[Georges Henri Rivière]], [[Jean Dubuffet]], [[Robert Desnos]], [[Georges Bataille]] and the artist [[André Masson]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Oisteanu|first=Valery|date=2012-06-04|title=ANDRÉ MASSON The Mythology of Desire: Masterworks from 1925 to 1945|url=https://brooklynrail.org/2012/06/artseen/andr-masson-the-mythology-of-desire-masterworks-from-1925-to-1945|access-date=2020-07-28|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US}}</ref> who soon became his mentor. Through Masson, Leiris became a member of the [[Surrealist]] movement, contributed to ''[[La Révolution surréaliste]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michel Leiris (André Breton)|url=https://www.andrebreton.fr/person/12604|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.andrebreton.fr}}</ref> published ''Simulacre'' (1925),<ref>{{Cite web|last=www.bibliopolis.com|title=SIMULACRE by André Masson, Michel Leiris on William Reese Company|url=https://www.williamreesecompany.com/pages/books/WRCLIT57702/andre-masson-michel-leiris/simulacre|access-date=2020-07-28|website=William Reese Company|language=en-US}}</ref> and ''Le Point Cardinal'' (1927), and wrote a surrealist novel ''[[Aurora (Leiris novel)|Aurora]]'' (1927–28; first published in 1946). In 1926, he married Louise Godon,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/leonard-lauder-research-center/research/index-of-cubist-art-collectors/leiris|access-date=2020-07-28|title=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref> the stepdaughter of [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso's]] art dealer [[Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler]]<ref name=":0" /> and traveled to Egypt and Greece.

Following a falling-out with the surrealist leader [[André Breton]] in 1929, Leiris contributed an essay to the anti-Breton pamphlet ''[[Un Cadavre]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Breton|first1=André|title=Un cadavre|last2=Ribemont-Dessaignes|first2=Georges|last3=Prévert|first3=Jacques|last4=Queneau|first4=Raymond|last5=Vitrac|first5=Roger|last6=Leiris|first6=Michel|last7=Limbour|first7=Georges|last8=Boiffard|first8=J.-A|last9=Desno|first9=Robert|date=1924|publisher=s.n.|location=Paris|language=fr|oclc=801805934}}</ref> and joined Bataille's team as a sub-editor for ''[[Documents (magazine)|Documents]]'', to which he also regularly contributed articles such as “Notes on Two Microcosmic Figures of the 14th and 15th Centuries” (1929, issue 1), “In Connection with the ‘Musée des Sorciers'" (1929, issue 2), "Civilisation" (1929, issue 4), “The ‘Caput Mortuum’ or the Alchemist's Wife” (1930, issue 8), and on artists such as [[Giacometti]], [[Joan Miró|Miró]], [[Picasso]], and the 16th Century painter [[Antoine Caron]]. He also wrote an article on “The Ethnographer’s Eye (concerning the Dakar-Djibouti mission)” before setting off in 1930 as the secretary-archivist in [[Marcel Griaule]]'s ambitious ethnographic expedition. From this experience, Leiris published his first important book in 1934, ''L’Afrique fantôme'', combining both an ethnographic study and an autobiographical project, which broke with the traditional ethnographic writing style of Griaule. Upon his return, he started his practice as an ethnographer at the [[Musée de l'Homme]], a position he kept until 1971.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aruna |first=Balasubramanian |date=2024-05-02 |title=The Musics of Michel Leiris |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2024/05/02/the-musics-of-michel-leiris/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Yale University Press |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1937, Leiris teamed up with Bataille and [[Roger Caillois]] to found the [[College of Sociology|Collège de sociologie]] in response to the current international situation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Caillois|first=Roger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Gv4659MqYgC|title=The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader|date=2003|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3068-4|language=en}}</ref> Increasingly involved in politics, he took part in a mission to Côte d'Ivoire in the [[French colonies]], in 1945. As a member of [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s editorial committee for ''[[Les Temps modernes]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Howard|title=Sartre and 'Les Temps Modernes' |date=April 1987|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sartre-and-les-temps-modernes/introduction/A280575088C46D79E1E794CF6ACB953B|access-date=2020-07-28|website=Sartre and 'Les Temps Modernes'|pages=1–12|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511897726.003|isbn=9780511897726|language=en}}</ref> Leiris was involved in a series of political struggles, including the [[Algerian War]], and was one of the first to sign the [[Manifesto of the 121|Déclaration sur le droit à l'insoumission dans la guerre d'Algérie]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=SIRINELLI|first=Jean-François|date=1998-01-12|title=Algérie, Manifeste des 121. "Déclaration sur le droit à l'insoumission dans la guerre d'Algérie"|url=https://www.liberation.fr/cahier-special/1998/01/12/algerie-manifeste-des-121-declaration-sur-le-droit-a-l-insoumission-dans-la-guerre-d-algerie_544819|access-date=2020-07-28|website=Libération.fr|language=fr}}</ref> the 1960 manifesto supporting the fight against the colonial forces in Algeria.

In 1961, Leiris was made head of research in ethnography at the C.N.R.S. ([[Centre national de la recherche scientifique]]) and published numerous critical texts<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michel Leiris - Auteur|url=https://www.cnrseditions.fr/auteur/michel-leiris/|access-date=2020-07-28|website=CNRS Editions|language=fr-FR}}</ref> on artists he admired, including [[Francis Bacon (painter)|Francis Bacon]], a close friend for whom he had modeled.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michel Leiris {{!}} Francis Bacon|url=https://www.francis-bacon.com/life/family-friends-sitters/michel-leiris|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.francis-bacon.com}}</ref> That year he also published ''Nuits sans nuit et quelques jours sans jour'' (''Nights as Day, Days as Night'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Leiris|first1=Michel|last2=Davis|first2=Lydia|last3=Blanchot|first3=Maurice|last4=Fort|first4=Jeff|date=1998|title=1944 Journal [The Liberation of Paris]|journal=Conjunctions|issue=31|pages=201–231|jstor=24515878|issn=0278-2324}}</ref>

Considered a leading figure in 20th century French literature, sociology, and cultural criticism, Michel Leiris left a considerable number of works. These range from autobiographical works such as ''L’Âge d’homme'' (1939), ''La Règle du jeu'' (1948–1976) and his ''Journal 1922-1989'' (published posthumously in 1992); art criticism such as ''Au verso des images'' (1980) and ''Francis Bacon face et profil'' (1983); music criticism such as ''Operratiques'' (1992); and scientific contributions such as ''La Langue secrète des [[Dogon people|Dogons]] de Saga'' (1948) and ''Race et civilisation'' (1951). His fields of interest in anthropology ranged from [[bullfighting]] to [[spirit possession|possession]] in [[Gondar]], [[Ethiopia]].

With Jean Jamin, Leiris founded ''[[Gradhiva]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|title=Gradhiva - Revue d'anthropologie et d'histoire des arts|url=http://journals.openedition.org/gradhiva|access-date=2020-07-28|website=journals.openedition.org|language=fr}}</ref> a journal of anthropology in 1986. The journal is now the journal of anthropology and museology of the [[Musée du quai Branly]] (Paris, France).

Leiris was also a talented poet, and poetry was important in his approach to the world. In his preface to ''Haut Mal, suivi de Autres lancers'' (1969), [[Alain Jouffroy]] quotes Leiris (from ''Fibrilles'') that "the practice of poetry [...] postulates the other as one's equal"<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=http://archive.org/details/hautmalsuivideau0000leir |title=Haut mal, suivi de Autres lancers |date=1969 |publisher=[Paris,] : Gallimard |others=Internet Archive |pages=9–10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJdCDgAAQBAJ&pg=213 |title=Fibrils |date=2017-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-21239-6 |pages=213 |language=en}}</ref> and (from ''L’Âge d’homme'') that poetic inspiration is "an altogether rare piece of luck, a momentary gift from heaven which it was the poet's responsibility to be in a state to receive by means of an absolute purity, and by paying with his misery for the fortuitous benefit of this manna".<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iYM5YEpKFoC&pg=129&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Manhood: A Journey from Childhood Into the Fierce Order of Virility |date=1992-06-15 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-47141-9 |pages=129 |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
* ''Simulacre : poèmes et lithographies'' (1925). Illustrations by [[André Masson]].
* ''Le Point cardinal'' (1927). ''Cardinal Point'', trans. Terry Hale in ''Aurora / Cardinal Point'' (Atlas Press, 2013)
* ''Aurora'' (written 1927–28; published 1946). ''Aurora'', trans. Anna Warby (Atlas Press, 1990; 2013)
* ''L’Afrique fantôme'' (1934). ''Phantom Africa'', trans. [[Brent Hayes Edwards]] (Seagull Books, 2018)
* ''Miroir de la tauromachie'' (1938). ''Mirror of Tauromachy'', trans. Paul Hammond (Atlas Press, 2007)
* ''L’Âge d’homme'' (1939). ''Manhood'', trans. [[Richard Howard]] (Cape, 1968; North Point Press, 1984; University of Chicago Press, 1992). Includes the 1945 essay "De la littérature considérée comme une tauromachie" ("The Autobiographer as Torero").
* ''Haut Mal'' (1943). Reprinted as ''Haut Mal, suivi de Autres lancers'' (1969).
* ''La Langue secrète des Dogons de Saga'' (1948)
* ''La Règle du jeu'' (1948–1976). ''Rules of the Game'':
** Vol. 1: ''Biffures'' (1948). ''Scratches'', trans. [[Lydia Davis]] (Paragon House, 1991)
** Vol. 2: ''Fourbis '' (1955). ''Scraps'', trans. Lydia Davis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)
** Vol. 3: ''Fibrilles'' (1966). ''Fibrils'', trans. Lydia Davis (Yale University Press, 2017)
** Vol. 4: ''Frêle Bruit'' (1976). ''Frail Riffs'', trans. [[Richard Sieburth]] (Yale University Press, 2024)
* ''Race et civilisation'' (1951). ''Race and Culture'', trans. unknown (UNESCO, 1958)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michel Leiris |url=http://archive.org/details/racecultureunesc0000mich |title=Race and culture (Unesco The Race question in modern science) |date=1965-01-01 |publisher=UNESCO |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''La Possession et ses aspects théatraux chez les Éthiopiens du Gondar'' (1958)
* ''Nuits sans nuit et quelques jours sans jour'' (1961). ''Nights as Day, Days as Night'', trans. Richard Sieburth (Eridanos Press, 1987; Spurl Editions, 2017)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=http://archive.org/details/nightsasdaydaysa0000leir |title=Nights as day, days as night |date=1987 |publisher=Hygiene, Colo. : Eridanos Press : New York, NY : Distributed in U.S.A. by Rizzoli International |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-941419-06-2}}</ref>
* ''Brisées'' (1966). ''Broken Branches'', trans. Lydia Davis (North Point Press, 1989)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=http://archive.org/details/briseesbrokenbra00leir |title=Brisées = Broken branches |date=1989 |publisher=San Franciscso : North Point Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-86547-375-1 |language=en, fr}}</ref>
* ''Afrique noire : la création plastique'', with Jacqueline Delange (1967). ''African Art'', trans. Michael Ross (Golden Press, 1968)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiris |first=Michel |url=http://archive.org/details/africanart0000leir |title=African art |date=1968 |publisher=New York : Golden Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''Mots sans Mémoire'' (1969). Collection that includes ''Simulacre'', ''Le Point cardinal'', ''Glossaire j'y serre mes gloses'', ''Bagatelles végétales'', and ''Marrons sculptés pour Miró''.
* ''Au verso des images'' (1980)
* ''Le Ruban au cou d'Olympia'' (1981). ''The Ribbon at Olympia's Throat'', trans. Christine Pichini (Semiotext(e), 2019)
* ''Francis Bacon face et profil'' (1983). ''Francis Bacon: Full Face and in Profile'', trans. John Weightman (Phaidon, 1983)
* ''Operratiques'' (1992). ''Operratiques'', trans. Guy Bennett (Green Integer, 2001)
* ''Journal 1922-1989'' (1992)

==See also==
* [[Limit-experience]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* [[Jean-Louis de Rambures]], "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with M. Leiris, in French)

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Michel Leiris}}

{{Surrealism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiris}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:French ethnographers]]
[[Category:French surrealist writers]]
[[Category:Lycée Janson-de-Sailly alumni]]
[[Category:Analysands of Adrien Borel]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century French poets]]
[[Category:20th-century French male poets]]
[[Category:Surrealist poets]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Manifesto of the 121]]

Michel Leiris - Revision history

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