was involved in a series of political struggles, including the Algerian War, and was one of the first to sign the Déclaration sur le droit à l'insoumission dans la guerre d'Algérie, 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 on artists he admired, including Francis Bacon, a close friend for whom he had modeled. That year he also published Nights as Day, Days as Night (Eng. translation, Spurl Editions, 2017). 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'Age d'homme (1939), La Règle du jeu (1948–1976) and his Journal 1922-1989 (published postmortem 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 Dogons de Saga (1948) and Race et civilisation (1951). (His fields of interest in anthropology ranged from bullfighting to possession in Gondar, Ethiopia.) With Jean Jamin, Leiris founded Gradhiva, 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 the preface to Haut Mal, suivi de Autres Lancers (Gallimard 1969) he is quoted as saying that "the practice of poetry enables us to posit the Other as an equal" and that poetic inspiration is "a very rare thing, a fleeting gift from Heaven, to which the poet needs to be, at the price of an absolute purity, receptive – and to pay with his unhappiness for the benefits derived from this blessing." Works (selection) See also Limit-experience References Jean-Louis de Rambures, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with M. Leiris, in French) External links 1901 births 1990 deaths Writers from Paris Ethnographers French surrealist writers Lycée Janson-de-Sailly alumni Analysands of Adrien Borel Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French poets French male poets Surrealist poets 20th-century French male writers