Literary Nonfiction. Fiction. Biography. Conscripted into the French Army in World War One, Jacques Vache soon became not only the unsurpassed champion of "Desertion from Within," but also the master of "Disservice with Diligence." His post-humous slim book, War Letters (1919)--included in the present volume--is a classic of surrealist anti-militarism and subversion. Renowned as the Inventor of Umour (Humour without the H), Vache was--along with Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautreamont--the major inspirer of Andre Breton and the surrealist revolution. The first of its kind in English, this book chronicles Vache's boundless originality, creative nonconformity, revolutionary morality (or umoral-ity), and his all-out turn-the-world-upside-down hilarity. Welcomed by Andre Breton himself into the Paris Surrealist Group in 1966, Franklin Rosemont took part in the Paris group's activities for several months and went on to co-organize the Chicago Surrealist Group later that year. Rosemont (1943-2009) died earlier this year.

Author City: CHICAGO, IL USA

Franklin Rosemont was born on October 2, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Henry, was a labor activist, and mother, Sally, a jazz musician. He edited and wrote an introduction for What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings of Andre Breton, and edited Rebel Worker, Arsenal/Surrealist Subversion, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DIL PICKLE and Juice Is Stranger Than Friction: Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim. With Penelope Rosemont and Paul Garon he edited THE FORECAST IS HOT!. His work has been deeply concerned with both the history of surrealism (writing a forward for Max Ernst and Alchemy: A Magician in Search of Myth) and of the radical labor movement in America, for instance, writing a biography of Joe Hill. He died on April 12, 2009, in Chicago.