«He who knows how to speak of freedom as he speaks is less defeated than anyone. […] And how many exalting, contagious passages! Many times, I have been surprised not to know if it was he or I who was speaking.”—André Breton

«Pierre Minet, you will be healed and restored when you see the earth break into pieces under your feet. Thank you. Defeat has given me one of the greatest joys of my condemned existence!”—Antonin Artaud

“If we don't help the Minets of the world win, we only have atomic bombs left.”—Roberto Bazlen

Defeat is the narration of all these extraordinary experiences that took place in an unrepeatable time and place. Thus, Minet recounts the escape from the family home, the fleeting passage through the reactionary circles of Action Française, his membership in the poetic group The Great Game, the last glimpses of symbolist bohemia, the golden years of Montparnasse, his forays into the world of male prostitution, the glimpse of the surreal aristocracy…; and through its pages appear poets such as René Daumal, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and Philippe Soupault; writers like René Crevel, Roger Vailland or André Gide, historical figures like Léon Daudet and all kinds of quirky and forgotten characters from Montmartre, Les Halles and Montparnasse. The result is a mosaic in which the protagonist's spirit of revolt works as a glue, revealing on each page his dazzling ability to "live poetry."

This translation has been made by Julio Monteverde, who previously also prepared the anthology of texts El Gran Juego: revelación-revolución, textos y declaraciones for the magazine Le Grand Jeu (1928-1932) published by Pepitas in 2016.