Now that we are beginning to understand overdetermination and compressed significance, we have intimations that Artaud’s twin masterpieces, the Adresse au pape and the Adresse au dalai-lama, have both theological and literary significance. The economy and compression of the religious statement compare favorably with the Sermon on the Mount and Luther’s theses. But as lyric poetry they are unsurpassed. Artaud’s efflorescent imagery and halting, abrupt prosody exhibit the short prose poem in breathless ecstasy. The present translation is not an attempt to introduce Artaud to anyone since there is no excuse not to read him in the original. It is perhaps best described as an act of piety.