René Guy Cadou was born in 1920 in Brittany (France). He was the son of a primary school teacher. His mother died prematurely during his teenage years, which affected him deeply. He went to high school in Nantes, where he met Surrealist poets Michel Manoll, Max Jacob, and Pierre Reverdy. His first collection of poems, Brancardiers de l’aube (1937), shows their influence.
Cadou’s father died in 1940, right before the poet took part in the counter-offensive against Nazi Germany. Gravely ill, Cadou was sent home in October 1940. After recovering, he became a full-time primary school teacher in Brittany and soon joined the School of Rochefort, an informal literary group meeting in the backroom of Jean Bouhier’s pharmacy. The group also included Jean Rousselot, Luc Bérimont, Marcel Béalu, Michel Manoll, and several others.
Cadou’s second collection of poems, Pleine poitrine (1945), focused on the German occupation in France during World War II and the death of his friend Max Jacob, who was deported for being Jewish, despite having converted to Catholicism. In 1946, Cadou married teacher and poet Hélène Laurent (later known as Hélène Cadou), for whom he wrote Hélène ou le règne végétal (1944-1951). He lived with her and taught in Brittany until his death in 1951, after a long and painful disease.
The poems on this page come from Hélène or the Vegetable Kingdom, a book translation manuscript of Hélène ou le règne végétal, by Marie C. Jones, Rachel Yeatts, and Todd Hall. Those poems are posted by special permission of Les Editions Robert Laffont (Paris), the copyright holder of Cadou’s poetic works.
