Description

Lettre de Robert Sarrazac à André Breton, datée de Cahors, le 26 novembre 1949.

 

Creation date	26/11/1949
Postmarked date	26/11/1949
Destination address	André Breton 42, rue Fontaine Paris IXe
Bibliographical material	Ms, encre bleue - deux pages. Enveloppe conservée.
Languages	French
Place of origin	Hôtel de l'Europe (Cahors) Rue Wilson, Cahors (Lot)
Library	Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris : BRT C Sup 743
Number of pages	2
Reference	308000
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Correspondence, Letter
Categories	Correspondence, Letters to André Breton
Set	[Correspondance] 63 lettres d'intérêt divers, [Correspondance] Correspondance avec Robert Sarrazac
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600101001699

Description

Manuscript and typescript of a speech given by André Breton on 24 June, 1950.

Moving from an ‘accursed time’ to a ‘regenerated time’: the beginning of this speech, delivered in Cahors in June 1950, can be read in two ways. For Breton, it is first of all a question of registering his refusal of the world order in place since the Liberation, and affirming his hope, admittedly not as strong as it was at the time he was writing Arcane 17, in a regeneration of which the ‘Citizen’s of the World’ movement, even if he had taken some distance from it, could spearhead. But one may also intuit a secret echo of the real discovery made on this trip to Cahors: that of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, the small village in the Lot where Breton and Elisa would soon buy a house. [André Breton Workshop website, 2005]

Hand-written manuscript signed and typescript, 24 June, 1950.
- 4 pages in-4°, handwritten, signed in green ink by Breton and dated, concerning the attempt by Robert Sarrazac to make ten French departments ‘global’. Numerous erasures and corrections.
- 8 pages in-4° typescript. A few erasures and corrections:
‘To visit Cahors from Paris is much more than having moved a few hundred kilometres in space... it is to have passed from a kind of cursed time... to a time that, if it hasn’t regenerated, at least carries within it the very living seed of its regeneration.’
(Oeuvres complètes, Tome III, Inédits II, pages 1118-123). [catalogue of the sale, 2003]

 

Exhibition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 September - 29 December 2014.

 

Bibliography

- André Breton, « Allocution à Cahors (juin 1950) », Inédits II, Œuvres complètes, Paris, Gallimard, bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Tome III, p. 1118 à 1123, et p. 1471.
- Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre André Breton initiateur découvreur, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 2014, p. 40-41

 

Creation date	24 juin 1950
Bibliographical material	- André Breton, ‘Speech given in Cahors (juin 1950) ‘Inédits II, Œuvres complètes, Paris, Gallimard, bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Tome III, pp. 1118-23, and p. 1471. - Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre André Breton initiateur découvreur, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 2014, p. 40-41.
Date of publication	1950
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms et Ts - encre verte et crayon noir
Museum	Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, Cahors : mchm 2004.1.1.
Reference	524000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2322
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Work notes, Politics, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, manuscript
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	Allocution pour la mondialisation , André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100734890

See also

Description

Manuscript by André Breton dated 13 October 1949 for a speech given the following day at the Mutualité.

Written on 13 October 1949 and intended for a meeting organised for the 14th at the Mutualité, André Breton was unable to deliver this speech in full, as an uproar broke out during it, disrupting the audience, the meeting thus falling very short of what hopes he had for it. Opposed to the idea of conscientious objection being granted legal status (in his view, contradictory to its revolutionary scope), and having reservations about the recent activities of Garry Davis, Breton offended the sensibilities of an audience the majority of which was committed to anarchist ideas. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Autograph manuscript signed, 13 October 1949. 

- 5 pages in-4° handwritten in blue ink, folioed, dated, and signed by Breton, of a speech delivered at the Mutualité in which he praised the anarchist movement, at the same time as his appraisal of Garry Davis became increasingly reserved: 

"I will never forget the peace and exaltation I felt as a child on one of the very first times that I was taken to a cemetery - amidst so many depressing or ridiculous funerary monuments - the discovery of a simple granite slab engraved in red capitals with the splendid motto: Neither God, Nor Master. 

"What do we see now? We see Garry Davis wearing a bomber jacket (in my opinion a somewhat poorly chosen outfit), described by the press as ‘legendary’, unrolling his sleeping bag in front of the Cherche-Midi, brought to the police station, each occasion repeated with a greater number of newspapers publishing his photograph.” [Sale Catalogue, 2003]

Exhibition: La Maison de verre: André Breton, initiateur découvreur, Musée Henri-Martin, Cahors, 20 September - 31 December 2014.

 

Bibliography

- André Breton (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), « Discours à la Mutualité », Alentours II, ŒŒuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 995-1002.

 

Creation date	13 oct. 49
Bibliographical material	5 pages in-4° MS in blue ink
Languages	French
Number of pages	5 p.
Reference	512000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2309
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Conferences, Speeches, Work notes, Politics
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	Meeting anarchiste de la mutualité , André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100176280

Description

Manuscrit d'une allocution prononcée le 30 avril 1948 à la première réunion publique de Front humain, manifestation de soutien organisée par Robert Sarrazac en faveur de Garry Davis, « citoyen du monde ».

Avril 1948, le 30, André Breton intervient avec Robert Sarrazac en faveur du mouvement Front humain, à la salle des Horticulteurs. Cette intervention ouvre le mouvement qui va conduire Breton à soutenir Garry Davis, le « citoyen du monde ». C'est bien, toutes nations et tous partis confondus, de l'homme qu'il s'agit ; et cette invocation à l'homme dans sa souveraineté et sa liberté n'est pas vaine, dans un contexte de crispation sur les identités collectives. C'est à juste titre que le poète note la différence fondamentale entre la foule déterminante de ses auditeurs et les foules déterminées qui écoutent, ici ou là dans le monde, la bonne parole. Le texte de cette intervention sera publié. [site Atelier André Breton, 2005]

Manuscrit autographe signé, 29 avril 1948.
- 4 pages in-4° foliotées, manuscrites à l'encre bleue, datées et signées par Breton.
Breton rend hommage aux publications de Front Humain - les premières à donner l'alarme sur les possibilités d'une guerre atomique - et à son principal collaborateur, Robert Sarrazac :
« Ce prolongement, cet épanouissement de la pensée de la résistance dans le temps qui devait la suivre, c'est chez lui, c'est chez ses camarades de Front humain et chez eux seuls que je les ai trouvés... » Ratures et corrections. (La Pléiade, Tome III, Alentours II, pages 970 à 975). [catalogue de la vente, 2003]

 

Exposition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 septembre - 31 décembre 2014

 

Bibliography

- André Breton (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Alentours II, Œuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 970-975.

Creation date	29-avr.-48
Bibliographical material	4 pages in-4° foliotées - Ms - encre bleue et crayon rouge
Languages	French
Reference	505000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2287
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Politics
Categories	Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	Discours du 30 avril 1948 , André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100766480

Description

Manuscript dated 25 January 1949 of a speech by André Breton in support of Garry Davis, first ‘Citizen of the World’.

In the face of ‘the anguish of barracks and arsenals,’ here Breton extols the virtues of impatience, in all of its revolutionary possibilities. The context is that in January 1949, what needs supporting is a young American – but a ‘Citizen of the World’ – Garry Davis, much talked about since he interrupted a session of the United Nations. Breton’s article would appear in Peuples du monde on 5 February; it gives evidence for the writer’s growing engagement with the Global Citizens’ cause at the close of the 1940s. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Signed handwritten manuscript, 25 January 1949.
- 3 pages of in-4° manuscript in blue ink, dated and signed by André Breton.
This is a first draft manuscript for the first part of the text (1 page) and of the complete and definitive version of it (2 pages) relating to the social condition of humanity and the actions of Garry Davis.
‘This activity in support of a world government (one, I might add, that we would refuse to countenance other than in the sense of the authorised management and equitable distribution of the world’s properties) had already, in 1946 and 1947, been conveyed in a viable programme…’. 

Deletions and corrections. (La Pléiade, volume III, Alentours II, pages 990-991). [Auction catalogue, 2003]

 

Exhibition

Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 September – 31 December 2014

 

Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Bibliography

- André Breton (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Alentours II, Œuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 990-991, notice p. 1437.

 

Creation date	25-janv.-49
Date of publication	01/02/1949
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms - encre bleue
Reference	510000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2301
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Diary, Politics
Categories	Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts, [Revue] Combat
Exhibition	André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100385720

Description

Typescript of extracts from a lecture given by Breton at the International Day of Resistance to Dictatorship and War on 30 April 1949.

In various fragments, one of which is typed, we have here the lecture that Breton was to have given at the International Day of Resistance to Dictatorship and War organised by the ‘Rassemblement démocratique révolutionnaire’ (‘Revolutionary Democratic Assembly’) on 30 April 1949. The aim was to oppose the Congress of the Partisans of Peace (Communists), which Breton, taking the role of a "guardian of vocabulary", attempted to show that they were subverting language. And to lead by example: in the typed fragment, a long quotation from Bernanos takes on the value of a declaration of freedom confronting all cant. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005].

Typescript and manuscript fragments, dated 29 April 1949.​​​​​​​
- 1 typescript dated 29 April 1949, beginning with an autograph text by Breton in black ink: "The United States of America, no. A United States of Europe, no. But even if this solution for the moment seems utopian, it is nevertheless the only one: the United States of the World."
- 1 autograph text of 6 lines in blue ink: "It is on this wish to promote a world government that the emphasis must be placed..." [Sale Catalogue, 2003]

 

Exhibition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 September - 31 December 2014

 

Bibliography

André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), « La loi des gouvernés », Alentours II, ŒŒuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 988-989.

 

Creation date	29-avr.-49
Bibliographical material	1/8 page in-4° - MS - black ink 1 page in-4° - TS - black ink
Languages	French
Number of pages	1 p. - 1 p.
Reference	509000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2304
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Politics, manuscript
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	André Breton, The House Of Glass , Allocution au meeting du 30 avril 1949
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100142560

Description

Vingt photographies de presse relatant la conférence de Garry Davis à la salle Pleyel le 4 décembre 1948, dont une avec André Breton.

Diverses photographies de presse relatant la conférence de Garry Davis à la salle Pleyel, le 4 décembre 1948, dont une montrant André Breton et une autre montrant l'assistance (en neuf exemplaires).
Tampon de Robert Cohen et de l'agence Franc-tireurs au dos de certains tirages (images du dos manquantes). [catalogue de la vente, 2003]

 

De gauche à droite

1/ Garry Davis en blouson noir  et main levée dans la foule devant la salle Pleyel

2/ À la tribune, Robert Sarrazac, André Breton et Garry Davis

3/ à 11/ on reconnaît au 2^e rang, Jacques Hérold,  Vera Hérold, née Binard, Benjamin Péret, Jindrich Heisler ; et Toyen au 3^e rang à droite et peut-être Elisa Claro (avec lunettes)

12/ Garry Davis dans la rue

13/ Intérieur de la salle

14/Robert Sarrazac, Claude Bourdet et Garry Davis à la tribune

15/et 16/ Elisa Claro et Toyen à une autre réunion (pas les mêmes tenues que plus haut)

17/ spectateurs dans une autre salle à identifier

18/ Tribune de la salle Pleyel avec André Breton à droite

19/ Garry Davis saluant la foule

20/Garry Davis à la tribune avec Robert Sarrazac à gauche

[Anne Egger, 2023, Atelier André Breton]

 

 

 

Exposition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 septembre - 29 décembre 2014

 

Bibliography

- Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre André Breton initiateur découvreur, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 2014, rep. p. 38

Creation date	4 décembre 1948
Physical description	Tirage argentique sur papier
Reference	3333000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 5451
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Photography, Politics
Categories	1947-1957
Exhibitions	À propos de Garry Davis , André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100589040

Description

Cartons d'invitations de 1948, pour une conférence de Robert Sarrazac introduit par André Breton, suivie d'une vente aux enchères.

Cartons d'invitations insérés par André Breton dans son exemplaire de La Lampe dans l'horloge. [site André Breton, 2019]

Creation date	30/04/1948
Publication	first publication
Languages	French
Reference	6328000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 188
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Conferences
Categories	Archival Documents, Invitations
Exhibition	[La guerre peut-être...]
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600101000268

See also

Description

Manuscript of extracts from a speech given by Breton for the Journée internationale de résistance à la dictature et à la guerre, 30 April 1949.

Focused around the Garry Davis affair, from late 1948 to early 1949 Breton became increasingly engaged with the World Citizens’ cause. Here he condemns that failed version of it – full of protocols and untruths – that is the United Nations. Its New York assembly could not and would not respond to the spontaneous questions of the young American. This, as the writer explains, poses the problem of the representation of peoples by assemblies that are ultimately nothing but the voice of states. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscript, 29 April 1949.
- 2 in-4° manuscript pages by Breton in blue ink on the reverse of headed notepaper for Cause relating to the reaction of the United Nations to Garry Davis’s questions: ‘It goes without saying that I am not among those who were waiting to take a seat, to know what would happen, supposing this would have been the UN’s response to Garry Davis’s questions, on what specific or vague grounds it would have been formulated, at what early or subsequent moment sooner or later it would have been attained…’. Numerous deletions, corrections and variants. (La Pléiade, volume III, Alentours II, La loi des gouvernés, pages 988-89). [Auction catalogue, 2003]

 

Exhibition

Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 September - 31 December 2014

 

Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Bibliography

- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), « La loi des gouvernés », Alentours II, ŒŒuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 988-989.

 

Creation date	29-avr.-49
Date of publication	1949
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms - encre bleue
Reference	511000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2304
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Politics
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	André Breton, The House Of Glass , Allocution au meeting du 30 avril 1949
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100761800

Description

Photographie représentant Max Ernst et André Breton à côté de la borne kilométrique de la route sans frontière n°1 en 1950  ou en 1953.

Photographie représentant Max Ernst et André Bretonposant de part et d'autre d’une des bornes kilométriques de la Route sans frontières n°1, installées en 1950 entre Cahors et Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. Cette route était considérée par André Breton comme la « seule route de l’espoir ». C’est sans doute la raison pour laquelle, il pointe le mot sans de « Route sans frontières ».

André Breton acquiert une maison non loin de là peu de temps après avoir lu l'allocution pour la mondialisation le 24 juin 1950 :
« C'est au terme de la promenade en voiture qui consacrait, en juin 1950, l'ouverture de la première route mondiale - seule route de l'espoir - que Saint-Cirq embrasée aux feux de Bengale m'est apparue - comme une rose impossible dans la nuit. [...] » (André Breton - Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, le 3 septembre 1951.) [site André Breton, 2013]

 

photo prise par Elisa Claro ou Dorothea Tanning  [Anne Egger, 2023, Atelier André Breton]

 

Exposition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 septembre - 29 décembre 2014

 

Bibliography

- Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre André Breton initiateur découvreur, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 2014, rep. p. 43

Creation date	1950 ou 1953
Place of origin	Lot, France
Archive	Archives départementales du Lot : Fonds André Breton, 14 Fi 27
Reference	3958002
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 5461
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Photography, portraits, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
Categories	Photography, 1947-1957
Exhibition	André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100172450

See also

Description

André Breton's manuscript for a speech to be given at the Salle Pleyel on 12 December 1948.

On 12 December 1948, at the initiative of David Rousset and other personalities from the non-communist left, a meeting of the Rassemblement démocratique révolutionnaire (Revolutionary Democratic Assembly) was organised at the Salle Pleyel on the subject of the internationalism of the spirit. André Breton's speech, against the backdrop of the hardening of the communist regimes, makes a strong link between the moral conditions of human life and its physical conditions. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Signed autograph manuscript , December 1948.

- 2 pages in-4° folio, handwritten in blue ink, titled, dated, and signed by Breton.

The internationalism of the spirit was the subject of the Pleyel meeting:

"The more the human spirit discovers itself, the better it senses that, for a long time, it has been limited only by ignorance and deceit to one region of Europe. [...] The greatest ambition of Surrealism was to recover the secret of universal communication.” [Auction Catalogue, 2003]

Exhibition.

- La Maison de verre. André Breton, initiateur découvreur, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, Cahors, 20 September - 31 December 2014

Creation date	déc.-48
Bibliographical material	2 pages in-4° folioed. Manuscript in blue, dated and signed, December 1948.
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms - encre bleue et crayon
Number of pages	2 p.
Reference	504000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2293
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Work notes, Politics
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	L'internationalisme d'esprit , André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100297520

Description

Poème d'Adrian Miatlev dédié au citoyen du monde Garry Davis et publié par la Tour de Feu en 1948.

Édition originale limitée à 120 exemplaires numérotés et signés par l'auteur.

Envoi autographe signé de Adrian Miatlev à André Breton. [catalogue de la vente, 2003]

Exposition.
- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 septembre - 31 décembre 2014

Bibliographical material	s.l. [Jarnac], La Tour de Feu, 1948. In-8°, agrafé.
Date of publication	1948
Publication	first publication
Languages	French
Publisher	La Tour de Feu, Jarnac
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 1474
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Politics, Poetry
Categories	Books, poems, fiction, non-fiction
Exhibition	André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100982051

Description

A lecture that Breton was to have given at the 'International Day of Resistance to Dictatorship and War' held on 30 April, 1949. We have here in various fragments, one of which is typed, the lecture that Breton was due to have given at the 'International Day of Resistance to Dictatorship and War' organised on 30 April 1949 by the Rassemblement démocratique révolutionnaire [Revolutionary Democratic Assembly]. Breton’s aim was to demonstrate that, in their role of "guardians of language", the congress of the (Communist) ‘Partisans of Peace’ were in fact subverting it. Preaching by example, Breton, in the typed fragment, includes a long quotation from Bernanos that exemplifies a declaration of freedom in the face of cant. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]. Signed autograph manuscript and typescript, 29 April 1949. - 5 folio pages in-4°, handwritten in black ink, dated and signed by Breton, of his address to the meeting of 30 April 1949 in which he evokes the change of society - quoting Georges Bernanos, Garry Davis, Paul Nizan - and rejects the orientations of the USSR and the USA: "I have to admit that I really can't tolerate the idea of Picasso giving the floor in public to Ilya Ehrenbourg - 'Officer of the Legion of Honour', the poster proclaims - indubitably a patent false witness, the same one who described my surrealists friends and I as pederasts and pimps; I’m still proud that I corrected him about this with my own hand. [...] "This society must be changed from top to bottom. It won’t change in its blood. It will change the day when justice, to the great horror of its gravediggers, awakens from its slumber and, ever more radiantly, sits down on its tomb." - Six typescript pages of the almost complete text with a handwritten passage and corrections by Breton. (André Breton, Tome III, Inédits II, 1947-1953, Œuvres complètes, volume III (Edition established by Marguerite Bonnet and edited by Étienne-Alain Hubert with contributions from Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas and José Pierre), Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, pp.1107-1113). [Auction Catalogue, 2003] Speech at the meeting of 30 April 1949, 29 April 1949. Autograph manuscript signed by André Breton, 4 1/2 pages in-4°. Followed by a typescript with handwritten corrections, 6 pages in-4°. Autograph manuscript of the first draft of this seminal political text by André Breton, which remained unpublished during his lifetime. It is accompanied by a typescript, with numerous handwritten corrections and seven handwritten lines added at the end. This typescript is incomplete, corresponding to half a page of the manuscript. Neither Moscow, nor Washington. In this speech, planned for a meeting organised by the Rassemblement démocratique révolutionnaire for the International Day of Resistance to Dictatorship and War, Breton denounces both Stalinism and American imperialism, powerfully evoking the role of the writer. In the end, he was not able to deliver his speech, due to the uproar caused by a talk in favour of nuclear deterrence given by the American physicist, Carl Compton, vigorous protests by anarchists and Trotskyists forcing the organisers to adjourn the session. The writer as watchman – a guardian of words against their devaluation by politicians, a prelude to tyranny. Breton reminds the writer of his duty, that of defender of language. Like George Orwell, the author of Nadja understood that the corruption of language is the harbinger of tyranny; when the words 'peace', 'socialism' or 'democracy' are emptied of their real content, the path is opened up to all kinds of totalitarian purposes. "[The writer] proposes nothing more than to shake up the lethargy of wider intellectual circles, to confront them with their particular responsibility, to enjoin them, in the name of what qualifies them in their own distinct role, to abandon a tolerance - stupefied in some, contemptuous in others, but all too often opportunistic and cowardly - in order to put a stop once and for all to the misdeeds of the worst kind of intolerance, acting in the service of lies and hatred. What seems to me above all to justify the intervention of the writer in this forum is that, whatever his specific orientation, he assumes a responsibility that cannot be relinquished without the total disqualification of his role; that of guardian of language. It is up to him to ensure that the meaning of words is not corrupted, to denounce mercilessly those who today make a profession of distorting language, to speak out forcefully against the monstrous abuse of trust currently constituted by the propaganda of the press in some quarters. He stands up against the misuse of keywords: the latest to have been cynically diverted from its common usage to the point of losing all meaning for the man in the street is the word 'peace'. We have come to a so-called Peace Congress whose participants have not lost an opportunity to show that they only conceive of peace among themselves and, importantly, not with others; who, moreover, at the very moment when they were advocating peace on this side of the world, were most fervently in favour of war on the other side, in Asia. (...) I can hardly bear to look at those of my former friends who hold high ranks in this misery, which appals me, but if our gazes ever meet it will certainly not me who lowers my eyes. We would never have asked them to throw the weight of their work and the credit that their past behaviour has earned them, a triumph after all of the spirit, in support of the domestication of the spirit." Breton was an apostle of independent art. "The weight of an increasingly heavy and constraining hand, accompanied by the threat of imminent universal ruin" obliges the writer to "disengage himself at all costs". To disengage oneself is to refuse to go through the channels, to proclaim loudly and clearly that, whatever happens, one will not surrender to the arguments of the propaganda disseminated by either enemy. We are not without hope that a jolt of common sense will reshape the human community. The speech ends with a diatribe against the United States: "I abominate its monetary stranglehold over Central and South America, I vehemently repudiate that its Coca-Cola stupidity can get the better of old Europe..." And Breton claims: "This society must be changed from top to bottom. It won’t change in its blood. It will change the day when justice, to the great horror of its gravediggers, awakens from its slumber and, ever more radiantly, sits down on its tomb." This speech is much more than a text dependent on circumstance. It testifies to Breton's polemical strength and his undiminished loyalty to Surrealism’s past - "my surrealist friends and I", as he mentions them in his speech. It is also evidence of his integrity and intellectual courage, refusing, four years after the end of the Second World War, both subservience to Moscow and to celebrate the triumph of American capitalism. "These vibrant, inspired pages speak for themselves, without comment". (Étienne-Alain Hubert, in Breton, Œuvres complètes, volume III, pp.1107-1113) [quoted by Gazette Drouot, a study by Pierre Bergé et associés]. Exhibition - Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, Cahors, La Maison de verre: André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 September - 31 December 2014.

Bibliography

 

- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Inédits II, ŒŒuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 1107-1113.

 

Creation date	29-avr.-49
Date of publication	1949
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms et Ts - encre noire
Reference	513000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2306
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Speeches, Politics, manuscript
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Exhibitions	André Breton, The House Of Glass , Allocution au meeting du 30 avril 1949
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100026850

Description

Lettre ouverte de solidarité avec Garry Davis et son mouvement « citoyen du monde », et qui se rend célèbre en interrompant une séance de l'ONU au Palais de Chaillot en novembre 1948.

Garry Davis : on connaît l'histoire de ce jeune Américain devenu « citoyen du monde », qui se rend célèbre en interrompant une séance de l'ONU au Palais de Chaillot en novembre 1948. Le mouvement Front humain, auquel Breton collabore depuis le printemps, connaît alors un regain d'activité et devient Citoyens du monde ; Breton participe à plusieurs meetings mondialistes, et le groupe tout entier adresse en février 1949 son soutien au jeune activiste, avec ce tract intitulé « Les surréalistes à Garry Davis ».
Leur enthousiasme ne durera guère, tout comme la célébrité du jeune homme. Le tract, en tout cas, ne nous donne pas seulement d'utiles indications sur la tendance politique des surréalistes en cette période cruciale de l'histoire, mais il permet également de les recenser, grâce à leurs signatures. [site Atelier André Breton, 2005]

Tract, février 1949.
- Lettre ouverte de solidarité avec Garry Davis et son mouvement des citoyens du monde.
2 exemplaires sur papier blanc et vert. [catalogue de la vente, 2003]

 

Exposition

- Cahors, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre, André Breton, initiateur découvreur, 20 septembre - 29 décembre 2014

 

 

Bibliography

- José Pierre (dir.), Tracts et déclarations collectives, 1922-1969, Paris, Le Terrain Vague, Losfeld éd., 1980-1982, tome II, p. 43
- Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, La Maison de verre André Breton initiateur découvreur, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 2014, rep. p. 39, p. 40

Lire le tract sur Mélusine

Creation date	en févr-49
Bibliographical material	Paris, s.é., février 1949, Grand in-4°.
Date of publication	1949
Publication	first publication
Languages	French
Physical description	imp. - noir sur papiers beige et vert
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 1635
Keywords	Garry Davis Affair, Politics, Surrealism, Tract
Categories	Pamphlets
Set	Tracts surréalistes et déclarations collectives
Exhibition	André Breton, The House Of Glass
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100842420