Working from the 1960s on, the French writer, artist and illustrator
Roland Topor (1938-97) was an all-round maverick known for his paintings
and drawings as much as for his novels (such as The Tenant, filmed by
Roman Polanski), plays and short stories, all dominated by a sense of
irrational, everyday menace. He was also a filmmaker, actor (appearing
as Renfield in Herzog's Nosferatu) and the cofounder, with Arrabal and
Jodorowsky, of the Panic performance art movement. The tone of Topor's
fiction and art could be interpreted as humorous, but it's a humor
pushed deep into discomfort, almost to the point of total horror. From
the collision of these factors, rooted in the author's experiences and
his irrepressible personality, come works increasingly seen as unique in
European art and writing of the late 20th century.
Head-to-Toe Portrait of Suzanne tells of an isolated, misanthropic
narrator and his encounter with the beautiful Suzanne, an old flame from
his past. It is at once a fable, a love story of enormous tenderness and
a tale of increasingly unpleasant events that culminate in horror and
atrocity. With its distinct blend of sympathetic cynicism and
grotesquerie, Head-to-Toe Portrait of Suzanne--Topor's first work to
be translated into English in half a century--offers an ideal
introduction to the work and worldview of an artist currently undergoing
a major reassessment and rediscovery in his home country and beyond.
