French · 1897–1982
French poet and novelist who moved from Surrealism to Communism without losing his lyric gifts. A co-founder of Surrealism, he broke with Breton in 1932 and joined the Communist Party, which he never left. His wartime poetry—"La Rose et le Réséda"—became Resistance anthems. The massive novel cycle The Real World attempted social realism; later novels returned to experimental form. His love poems to Elsa Triolet are among the century's finest. He outlived most controversies and died a national monument, his contradictions intact.