About the Author

Unica Zurn (1916-70) suffered thirteen years of mental illness before throwing herself from her apartment window - an act foretold in this, her last work. Born in Germany, Zurn moved in mid-life to Paris, where she lived with the artist Hans Bellmer (she was his model as well as lover), and where she moved in the Surrealist circles of Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray. Caroline Rupprecht is Professor of Comparative Literature at Queens College, New York.