WRITER

Henri Michaux

1899 - 1984

Photo of Henri Michaux

Icon of person Henri Michaux

Henri Michaux (French: [ɑ̃ʁi miʃo]; 24 May 1899, Namur – 19 October 1984, Paris) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York had major shows of his work in 1978 (see below, Visual Arts). His autobiographical texts that chronicle his psychedelic experiments with LSD and mescaline include Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Henri Michaux has received more than 227,327 page views. His biography is available in 33 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 30 in 2019). Henri Michaux is the 1,115th most popular writer (down from 1,087th in 2019), the 139th most popular biography from Belgium (up from 143rd in 2019) and the 8th most popular Belgian Writer.

Henri Michaux is most famous for his surrealist writings.

Memorability Metrics

  • 230k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 60.90

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 33

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.53

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.82

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Poems
1949
Ecuador
1929
L' infini turbulent
1957
La nuit remue
1935
Misérable miracle
Poetry
Misérable miracle est le premier livre consacré par Henri Michaux à ses expériences sur les hallucinogènes. C'est surtout la relation du premier choc de la mescaline, la notation brute de sa première agression, subie comme un viol. Il y a là non pas description, mais communication au sens le plus direct, le plus physique du mot. Car en plus des états exceptionnels qu'il nous révèle et des informations qu'il nous apporte, Misérable miracle fait apparaître chez Michaux, et plus généralement dans la littérature contemporaine, un nouveau langage. Ce livre est ce qu'on pourrait appeler le "reportage" exemplaire d'une expérience psychophysiologique.
1956
Henri Michaux
1946

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Henri Michaux ranks 1,115 out of 7,302. Before him are Velimir Khlebnikov, Camilla Collett, Ethel Voynich, Shi Nai'an, Ellen Key, and Yakub Kolas. After him are Bernardino de Sahagún, Zenodotus, Ernst Hanfstaengl, P. L. Travers, Alain-Fournier, and Norman Mailer.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1899, Henri Michaux ranks 51. Before him are Sobhuza II, James Cagney, Franz Jonas, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Georges Auric, and Charles Boyer. After him are P. L. Travers, Louis Hjelmslev, Lao She, Lev Kuleshov, Andrei Platonov, and Alma Reville. Among people deceased in 1984, Henri Michaux ranks 38. Before him are Philippe Ariès, Viktor Shklovsky, Karl Rahner, Pierre Gemayel, Tito Gobbi, and Kim Il. After him are Oskar Werner, Yigael Yadin, Enrico Berlinguer, Moshé Feldenkrais, Walter Rauff, and Pavel Batitsky.

Others Born in 1899

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Others Deceased in 1984

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In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Henri Michaux ranks 139 out of 1,190. Before him are David Teniers the Younger (1610), Auguste Perret (1874), Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (1254), Bartholomeus Spranger (1546), Pierre Louÿs (1870), and Bavo of Ghent (589). After him are Paul Van Himst (1943), Henry I, Duke of Brabant (1165), Jan Matsys (1509), Charles Michel (1975), Marc Dutroux (1956), and Luce Irigaray (1930).

Others born in Belgium

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Among WRITERS In Belgium

Among writers born in Belgium, Henri Michaux ranks 8. Before him are Georges Simenon (1903), Marguerite Yourcenar (1903), Julio Cortázar (1914), Émile Verhaeren (1855), Marguerite Porete (1250), and Pierre Louÿs (1870). After him are Laura Marx (1845), Victor Serge (1890), Georges Rodenbach (1855), Hugo Claus (1929), Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522), and Michel de Ghelderode (1898).

Belgian born Writers

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