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Paul Eluard

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Poet

The Resume

    (December 14, 1895-November 18, 1952)
    Born in Saint Denis, France
    Birth name was Eugene Emile Paul Grindel
    Founding member of the surrealist movement
    Poetry collections include 'Capitol of Sorrow' (1926), 'The Public Rose' (1934), 'Fertile Eyes' (1936), 'Poetry and Truth' (1942), 'Worthy of Living' (1944), and 'The Phoenix' (1951)

Why he might be annoying:

    He gave his passport to Max Ernst so Ernst could enter the country illegally.
    He eventually reacted to a menage a troi involving himself, his first wife Gala, and Ernst by going on a world tour without telling anyone -- leaving several of his friends worrying that he had committed suicide (1924).
    He joined the French Communist Party (1920), was expelled (1933), and rejoined (1942).
    He wrote an ode praising Joseph Stalin.
    He supported the execution of one of his former friends, Czech historian Zavis Kalandra, for being a Trotskyite (1950).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He served on the front lines in World War I and was gassed, developing pleurisy.
    He was expelled from the Communist Party for protesting the dictate that all art must be in the style of social realism.
    He joined the French Resistance during World War II, delivering secret papers and publishing clandestine literature.
    After 'Poetry and Truth' was denounced by the Nazis, he and his second wife Nusch had to move to a new address every month, until they found refuge in a mental asylum run by a doctor sympathetic to the Resistance.
    The RAF dropped leaflets with his poem 'Liberte' over Europe as anti-Nazi propaganda.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying