Committee to study pre-Columbian myths and American folklore. He had originally wished to emigrate to the United States but was unable to do so due to his Communist affiliations. Péret went to Mexico with his partner, the Spanish artist Remedios Varo. In Mexico City he became involved with the European intellectual community around the Austrian painter and surrealist Wolfgang Paalen living there in exile. He was particularly inspired by Paalen's huge collection and knowledge about the "Totem Art" of the Northwest Coast of British Columbia; 1943 he finished a long essay on the necessity of poetic myths, exemplified with the mythology and art of the Northwest Coast, which was then published in New York by André Breton in VVV. While living in Mexico City Péret met Natalia Sedova, Trotsky's widow. He remained in Mexico until the end of 1947. He returned to Paris and died there on 18 September 1959. Works 1921: Le Passager du transatlantique 1925: Cent cinquante-deux proverbes mis au goût du jour, en collaboration avec Paul Éluard 1927: Dormir, dormir dans les pierres 1928: Le Grand Jeu 1934: De derrière les fagots 1936: Je sublime 1936: Je ne mange pas de ce pain-là 1945: Le Déshonneur des poètes 1945: Dernier Malheur dernière chance 1946: Un point c’est tout 1952: Air mexicain 1955: Le Livre de Chilam Balam de Chumayel 1956: Anthologie de l’amour sublime 1957: Gigot, sa vie, son œuvre 1960: Le premier tournage de porno English translations Four Years After the Dog. Poems of Benjamin Péret. Arc Publications, 1974. Irregular Work. Actual Size Press, 1984. Death to the Pigs and the Field of Battle. Atlas Press, 1988. From the Hidden Storehouse (Selected Poems by Benjamin Péret). Oberlin College, 1991. Mad Balls. Atlas Press, 1991. The Automatic Muse. Atlas Press, 1994. A Menagerie in Revolt! Selected Writings. Black Swan Press, 2009. The Leg of Lamb: Its Life and Works. Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, 2011 References External links A Menagerie in Revolt! Selected Writings of Benjamin Péret (Publisher website) 1899 births 1959 deaths People from Loire-Atlantique Dada Surrealist poets French communists French Marxists French Trotskyists Marxist writers French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French novelists French erotica writers Burials at Batignolles Cemetery French surrealist writers Communist poets French military personnel of World War I