Michel Leiris; Poet, Surrealist Leader

PARIS — Michel Leiris, a writer who helped lead the surrealist movement in the 1920s and later authored innovative studies of ethnic groups, has died at his country home, associates said Monday. He was 89.

He died Sunday in the town of Saint Hilaire, southwest of Paris. The cause was not disclosed.

Leiris published his first work at the age of 25--a collection of poems. He became involved with surrealist writers and artists, and was a contributor to the movement’s journal, “The Surrealist Revolution.”

He broke with the movement in 1929, and two years later joined a two-year research mission across central Africa. Upon returning to France, he published an account of the mission, “Phantom Africa,” combining poetry and stream-of-consciousness prose with more traditional ethnological analysis.

He also accepted a post at the Musee de l’Homme (Museum of Man) in Paris as head of its section on sub-Saharan Africa.

Later works included “L’Age d’Homme” (The Age of Man) and “La Regle du Jeu” (The Rule of the Game).