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Garry Davis: The man from nowhere

Address to Citizens of the World

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
Person cited Garry Davis

Description

Manuscript and typescript of a speech about Garry Davis given by André Breton on 3 December 1948.

Two versions (handwritten and typescript) of this speech delivered on 3 December 1948 are given here; the editors of volume III of the Œuvres complètes were apparently unable to find it, since it does not appear alongside other texts devoted to the Garry Davis affair after this young American dared to interrupt a session of the United Nations. Although Breton quickly distanced himself from the young man, feeling that his acts were not very organised and could be too easily appropriated by the media. Breton still spoke in his favour on several occasions at the end of 1948, and about the Citizens of the World movement which, among other things, sought to oppose the division of the world into two blocs. This speech centres on the theme that had appeared in Breton’s work over the 1930s, of how words were under attack and those of democracy and peace were being used by people whose agenda was completely different. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscript signed and typescript, 3 December 1948
- 3 pages in-4°, manuscript dated 3 December 1948 and endorsed by André Breton with erasures and corrections in ink on the back of a letterhead of Cause of a text supporting ‘citizen of the world’ Garry Davis.
- 5 pages 1/2 in-4°, typescript on the back of a headed paper of the ‘Compagnie de l'Art Brut’ of the same text whose first part was not included in volume III of the Œuvres complètes:
‘We are all more or less aware of the process of degradation to which notions corresponding to words like peace, democracy, security, civilization and freedom are today being subjected’(Œuvres complètes, Volume III, Alentours II, pages 992-3) [sale catalogue, 2003]

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 (Édition établie par Marguerite Bonnet et éditée par Étienne-Alain Hubert avec des contributions de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas et José Pierre), « L'Homme de nulle part : Garry Davis », Alentours II, Œuvres complètes, tome III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, p. 992-993.