The Dalí Incident
Regular readers will probably notice how much I enjoy writing about topical things in non-obvious ways. I like to write about them without writing directly about them.
I still want to write more on and around Oppenheimer (thanks to those of you who sent kind messages or linked to my previous piece!), albeit in a way that still (mostly) aligns with what I usually do. So, I thought I would touch on something that caught my attention while reading American Prometheus that maybe a few (correct me if I am wrong!) readers dwelt on as much as myself. As I have said a few times — either in writing, lectures, or conversations with friends — it is often a random sentence or paragraph that stays in my memory. In such a dense biography when there is SO MUCH to keep thinking and talking about, this is one of the instances that made me go, ‘huh’, and make a mental note.
I also think it would be nice to use this space to try out/write short pieces on the things that may eventually become fully-conceived newsletters while allowing you, kind readers, access to my thought processes, works in progress, and other things that may — or may not? — be of interest.
On page 164 of Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus (I have the Atlantic Books issue, but the page number may be the same for the Vintage Books issue), one line reads, ‘Haakon [Chevalier] had recently befriended the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and spent the days sitting in Oppie's garden working on a translation of Dalí's book, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.’
So, rather than talk about the Chevalier Incident and the conversation between Oppenheimer and Chevalier that would come to be known as ‘The Chevalier Incident,’ I wanted to touch on Chevalier’s work as a translator and how I can link Oppie to Dalí.
Haakon Chevalier was an American-born writer, translator, and professor of French literature at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1937, during his tenure as a Professor of Romance languages, Chevalier met Oppie, and both men were involved in Leftist causes. A conversation between both men in 1942 would become an integral part of Oppenheimer's 1954 security hearing in front of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, which concluded with Oppenheimer's security clearance being revoked.
While this conversation usually comes to mind when his name is mentioned (especially since the film’s release), Chevalier was a world-renowned translator who served on the Nuremberg Trials in 1945. In 1950, after losing his job at Berkeley following the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities hearing and his inability to find another professorship in the United States, Chevalier moved to France and continued his translation work. Aside from translating The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí in 1986, Chevalier also translated Louis Aragon’s 1958 historical novel La Semaine Sainte ‘The Holy Week’ in 1961, as well as works by André Malraux, Vladimir Pozner, Frantz Fanon and Victor Vasarely.
I wanted to know if Oppie had ever met Dalí, and the closest I could find was an illuminating interview between Chevalier and Martin J. Sherwin, the late historian and co-author of American Prometheus, who passed away in 2021. [1] While I cannot reproduce their discussion here, the very kind folks at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History have said I can footnote and link to their conversation. Aside from being a wholly engaging post-Oppenheimer read, especially if you are interested in Nuclear History, I found Chevalier’s remarks about Dalí and his thoughts on how Oppie perceived Dalí compelling — and, I must admit, amusing. From the art world to Hollywood and nuclear physics, there was not one corner or subject Dalí did not attempt to be a part of!
[1] Haakon Chevalier, interview by Martin J. Sherwin, Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Voices of the Manhattan Project: Haakon Chevalier’s Interview – Part 2,” June 29, 1982, https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/haakon-chevaliers-interview-part-2/