Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), born Wilhelm Albert Wlodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki in Rome, was a French poet, writer, and art critic of Polish descent. He is regarded one of the leading poets of the early 20th century, as well as the earliest defender / promoter of Cubism and as a forerunner of Surrealism. He came up with the term "Cubism" in 1911 to describe the latest art movement, and also "Surrealism" in 1917 to describe the works of Erik Satie. Apollinaire wrote one of the earliest Surrealist literary works, the play 'The Breasts of Tiresias' (1917). Two years after being wounded in World War I, Apollinaire died during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Timothy Mathews is Emeritus Professor of French and Comparative Criticism at University College London. In his writing and translating he explores what relating to art can tell us about relating to people. In addition to Guillaume Apollinaire, he has written widely about twentieth and twenty-first century French Literature, comparative literature, and comparative approaches. He is co-translator with Luce Irigaray of her Everyday Prayers (2004), and with Delphine Grass of Michel Houellebecq, The Art of Struggle (2010). His translations of selected pages from Roland Barthes, Fragments d'un discours amoureux appear in a special issue of CounterText, (2023). His other most recent books are Alberto Giacometti, the Art of Relation (2014), and There and Not Here: Chronicles of Art and Loss (2022). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Academy of Europe, and Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), born Wilhelm Albert Wlodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki in Rome, was a French poet, writer, and art critic of Polish descent. He is regarded one of the leading poets of the early 20th century, as well as the earliest defender / promoter of Cubism and as a forerunner of Surrealism. He came up with the term "Cubism" in 1911 to describe the latest art movement, and also "Surrealism" in 1917 to describe the works of Erik Satie. Apollinaire wrote one of the earliest Surrealist literary works, the play 'The Breasts of Tiresias' (1917). Two years after being wounded in World War I, Apollinaire died during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Timothy Mathews is Emeritus Professor of French and Comparative Criticism at University College London. In his writing and translating he explores what relating to art can tell us about relating to people. In addition to Guillaume Apollinaire, he has written widely about twentieth and twenty-first century French Literature, comparative literature, and comparative approaches. He is co-translator with Luce Irigaray of her Everyday Prayers (2004), and with Delphine Grass of Michel Houellebecq, The Art of Struggle (2010). His translations of selected pages from Roland Barthes, Fragments d'un discours amoureux appear in a special issue of CounterText, (2023). His other most recent books are Alberto Giacometti, the Art of Relation (2014), and There and Not Here: Chronicles of Art and Loss (2022). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Academy of Europe, and Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques.