The Thief of Talant
The Thief of Talant () was written by French poet Pierre Reverdy. Originally written in 1917, the work was not translated into English until 2016 by Ian Seed. It is a short collection of "chapters" chronicling Reverdy's, who is the Thief of Talant, disillusionment with France and the isolation he felt as a poet in the one city where he believed poetry could flourish. Additionally, in many parts of the novel there are brief moments characterizing Reverdy's professional relationships with unnamed characters with whom Reverdy was associated during his time in Paris. Ultimately, The Thief of Talant follows Reverdy through a dream-like novel concluding with his spiritual death and rebirth. Plot summary The narrative of The Thief of Talant is not so much a narrative, but a poetic autobiography. As such, the novel does not have a series of concrete plot points but rather details a descent into despair and isolation where Reverdy, as the main character (the Thief of Talant) finds that his time in Paris has ultimately killed his past, more lively self. The Thief of Talant begins with the reflections of a character who will later be known as the Thief of Talant waiting at a train station in his home town of Narbonne for Paris. When he arrives in Paris, the Thief encounters a man who offers to help him and get him an apartment. The narrative jumps forward three months later with the man, known now as Abel the Magus, coming to check in on how the Thief is settling in Paris. The Thief then reflects on the necessity of poets in elucidating the mysteries of life to the man. Then he goes to a café with two unnamed characters, noting that the people in crowded Parisian streets are no more than a collective of unthinking animals. He waits until nightfall and then walks alone on the streets, a common choice the Thief makes throughout the novel. The next day he goes to visit Abel the Magus in his own apartment and he describes how easily a writer's work can be stolen and Abel is quite paranoid of this happening to him. Abel the Magus distrusts the Thief of Talant who then antagonizes Abel by satirizing his fears, calling them unfounded. This point marks the transition between the young man who first came to Paris, and the deterioration of that spiritual being in the next half of the novel. The Thief takes to the streets again and now more clearly realizes that Paris cares little for ambitious poets as all they do is laugh at him and point out the foreign nature of his accent, ostracizing him. Thus, the Thief thinks back to how he was when he first came to Paris and that his past self is likened to a trace of footsteps that he can no longer be followed back. While not completely broken, at this point in the narrative, the Thief accepts that he is changing and that he is definitively isolated