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One for all except for a few

Whoever can afford the bitter luxury of confronting their memories...

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
People cited Georges Altman, Claude Aveline, Claude Bourdet, Albert Camus, Garry Davis, Kobloth Decroix, Camille Drevet, Pierre Girard, Jean Hélion, Emmanuel Mounier, Pierre, Louis Rosen, Roser, Robert Sarrazac, Jean Bruller, dit Vercors, Richard Wright, Jean Paulhan, Octavio Paz, Raymond Queneau

Description

Two drafts of a Handwritten manuscript signed by André Breton and dated 18 November 1948 about the ‘citizen of the world’ Garry Davis.

One day we shall learn from researchers whether this text, published by the editors of the third volume of the Œuvres complètes was published or simply given as a speech at the end of November 1948 (it is dated the 18th). Its purpose is to relate and analyze the ins and outs of the ‘Garry Davis affair,’ named after this former American officer who became a ‘citizen of the world’ and caused a scandal by disrupting a UN session at the Palais de Chaillot. Breton, who had been involved since the spring in the Human Front, which later became Citizens of the World, initially felt very close to the young man; he distanced himself from him during 1949, but this early text gives the measure of the hope that may have been born at the time. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Signed handwritten manuscripts, 18 November 1948.
- 1 page 1/2 in-4°, first draft manuscript, dated and signed in ink by André Breton, with numerous erasures and corrections, on the back of a letterhead of Cause, of a text introducing ‘citizen of the world,’ Garry Davis.
- 1 page in-4°, manuscript signed in ink by André Breton, with some erasures and corrections, constituting the final state of the second part of this text.
‘As in all desperate conjunctures of history, it was necessary and momentarily sufficient for a man to emerge and call everything into question, summoning the world to recognise itself. This man exists: his name is Garry Davis. (Œuvres complètes, Volume III, Alentours II, pages 975 to 978 and Notes, page 1433) [sale catalogue, 2003]
The article corresponding to this manuscript was published in Combat on 19 November 1948. [André Breton website, 2013]

Exhibition

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

*This entry was translated from the French by Michael Richardson.

Bibliography

– André Breton, « Un pour tous hormis quelques-uns », Combat, 19 novembre 1948.

– 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, pp. 975-978 and Notes, p. 1433.

Incident à l'ONU, expulsion du citoyen du monde