Surrealist art. The format is fragmented and uses bilingual poetry in combination with the visual imagery of the collages to create disorientation and continuous translation. The images are arranged to create juxtapositions and lack of continuity and become increasingly complex. There are references to Penrose's other, more cohesive, literary work but the novel does not have a singular format. The background for the works is typically of natural scenery or a landscape in which foreign elements are added, sometimes symbolically to create paradoxes. The recurring themes throughout the novel are gender ambiguity, love and prophetic writing. Lesbian love, in particular, is an important theme in much of Penrose's work, but especially in Dons des féminines. Lesbian love is indeed a crucial theme in the book because it recounts the romantic escape of two women and their dreamlike adventures together. In addition, the author-collagist mentions the city of "Mytilene" to evoke the Sapphic island of Lesbos. This reference to the Mediterranean shows that exoticism is an important theme of the work, but also that Penrose inscribes herself into the Sapphic tradition of Renée Vivien, Natalie Barney or Charles Baudelaire to just a few emblematic figures. Publications French poetry (Collages and poems by Valentine Penrose. One edition had additional illustrations by Pablo Picasso). (Anthology of works of Valentine Penrose) French prose Works translated into English (Translation of Erzsébet Báthory la Comtesse sanglante) Filmography Penrose acted in the following films: L'Age d'Or (1930), directed by Luis Buñuel La Garoupe (1937), directed by Man Ray References Further reading 1898 births 1978 deaths 20th-century French poets 20th-century French women artists 20th-century French women writers French surrealist artists French surrealist writers People from Mont-de-Marsan Surrealist poets Women surrealist artists People from Chiddingly