Reading Order
Le Grand JeuLe Grand Jeu Reading Order
Le Grand Jeu (The Great Game) was not a single book but the title of the review (1928–1932) and the name of the group that René Daumal co-founded with Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and others — the most radical alternative to Breton's Surrealism, drawing on Eastern philosophy (particularly the Vedanta and Gurdjieff's Fourth Way) and on experiments with extreme states of consciousness through drug and asphyxia experiments. Daumal's contribution to the group is best represented by his poetry collection La Contre-Ciel (Counter-Heaven, 1936), his essays collected as Chaque fois que l'aube paraît (1953), and above all Le Mont Analogue (The Analogue Mountain, 1952), the unfinished allegorical novel he was writing at his death from tuberculosis in 1944. Le Grand Jeu represents an alternative Surrealism — one grounded in religious and metaphysical ambition rather than Breton's secular avant-gardism; Daumal's work is less well known than Breton's in the English-speaking world but was enormously influential on the literary and spiritual countercultures of the 1950s and 1960s.
Where to start
Begin with Le Mont Analogue — it is the most complete and most accessible expression of Daumal's vision, and its allegory of a mountain that is 'simultaneously accessible and inaccessible' captures the group's essential ambition. Then read La Contre-Ciel for the poetry, and the essays in Chaque fois que l'aube paraît for the theoretical framework. The third issue of the Le Grand Jeu review (1930) is available in facsimile and gives the best picture of the group's range.
Complete Le Grand Jeu Book List
- 1Buy
Le Mont Analogue
René Daumal·1952·The unfinished allegorical novel — start here; the mountain that is simultaneously accessible and inaccessible - 2Buy
La Contre-Ciel
René Daumal·1936·The major poetry collection — the title poem enacts the anti-mystical mysticism that defines the group - 3Buy
Chaque fois que l'aube paraît
René Daumal·1953·Essays and theoretical writings — the fullest account of Daumal's metaphysical program - 4Buy
Le Grand Jeu (review, issues 1–3)
René Daumal and Roger Gilbert-Lecomte·1928·The source document — the three issues of the review give the widest picture of the group - 5Buy
A Night of Serious Drinking
René Daumal·1938·La Grande Beuverie — the allegorical novel of false knowledge; read alongside Le Mont Analogue
Le Grand Jeu — Frequently Asked Questions
How does Le Grand Jeu differ from Surrealism?
Le Grand Jeu shared Surrealism's rejection of rationalism and its interest in extreme states of consciousness, but where Breton's Surrealism was fundamentally secular and materialist (drawing on Freud and Marx), Le Grand Jeu was religious and metaphysical — drawing on the Vedanta, Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, and Eastern mysticism. The group also went further than the Surrealists in their experiments with extreme states: René Daumal and Roger Gilbert-Lecomte actually used carbon tetrachloride and other substances to induce near-death experiences, and Daumal's experiments with asphyxia were genuine attempts to experience death and return. Breton expelled the Grand Jeu group from the Surrealist circle in 1929.
What is the Analogue Mountain in Le Mont Analogue?
The Analogue Mountain is described in Daumal's unfinished novel as a mountain that is simultaneously accessible (it can actually be climbed) and inaccessible (it cannot be found by conventional means), and that connects Earth and Heaven — hence its name. The mountain is an analogue, not a symbol: it is a real mountain that stands for the spiritual path precisely because it is real rather than metaphorical. The novel's group of climbers assemble, sail to the mountain, and arrive — but Daumal died before they could begin the ascent. The last sentence he wrote is 'You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again — '
What experiments did Daumal and Gilbert-Lecomte conduct?
According to contemporary accounts and Daumal's own essays, the Grand Jeu group conducted experiments with drug intoxication (hashish, opium, carbon tetrachloride) and with asphyxia as deliberate techniques for accessing states of consciousness beyond the ordinary. Daumal's essay 'A Fundamental Experiment' describes his use of carbon tetrachloride to induce near-death experiences and his observations from within those states. Gilbert-Lecomte's addiction to opiates eventually killed him (1943); Daumal died the following year from tuberculosis, both tuberculosis and his early drug use likely connected.
What is Daumal's connection to Gurdjieff?
In the late 1930s Daumal became a close student of the Greco-Armenian teacher G.I. Gurdjieff (via Alexandra David-Néel and then directly) and of Gurdjieff's collaborator P.D. Ouspensky, and he and his partner Vera Milanova worked intensively on translating Sanskrit texts (Daumal became a serious Sanskrit scholar). The Gurdjieff connection transformed Daumal's work — Le Mont Analogue is partly a Gurdjieff allegory, with the mountain representing the Work and the climbing group representing the study group. The Gurdjieff influence separates Daumal's late work from the more aesthetically focused early Grand Jeu period.
Is Le Mont Analogue available in English?
Yes — Roger Shattuck's translation (Pantheon, 1960; republished by City Lights, 2004) is the standard English version, with a preface by Shattuck that gives useful context. A Night of Serious Drinking (La Grande Beuverie) is available in translation from Shambhala. Daumal's essays have been translated in various collections but not all are in print simultaneously; the Shambhala editions in the 1970s–80s were the most comprehensive, and some are out of print.
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