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[If I were asked what the secret of Georges Schehade is...]

To the ‘Quatre Diamants’, horse...

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
Person cited Georges Schehadé

Description

Manuscript by André Breton dated 22 December 1953 (two versions) and published in Jean-Louis Barrault’s Le Petit Théâtre in 1954.

Rodogune SinnMonsieur Bob'le; from the outset the work of Georges Schéhadé struck Breton as being of the greatest significance. As he noted in his 1952 radio broadcast interviews Entretiens, the connection was made though the association of the work of the Lebanese poet and that of Julien Gracq, both of which he described as ‘entirely surrealist’. Breton had already come to Schéhadé’s defence in 1951, when critics attacked Monsieur Bob'le; here he offers a preface for La Soirée des proverbes, a play written in 1954. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscripts, Paris, 22 December 1953.
- 1/2 in-4° manuscript page in black ink on the reverse of headed notepaper for the À l'Étoile scellée gallery by Breton, with deletions and corrections, making up the partial first draft of a text in homage to Georges Schéhadé.
- 1 in-4° dated and signed manuscript page on the reverse of headed notepaper for Médium of a more developed version of this same text, with numerous deletions and corrections:
‘With that grace that only he possesses, in presenting his first book Rodogune Sinne Georges Schéhadé confided: “In those days I was a dovecote of words, of turtledoves… I was filled with a buzzing.” What is marvellous is that this effervescence should have allowed those words of his to restage – as a street in Paris puts it so charmingly – the ‘First Campaign’ (‘Campagne première’).’ [Auction catalogue, 2003]

 

Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Bibliography

- André Breton, "Aux Quatre Diamants, cheval..." in Jean-Louis Barrault, Le Petit Théâtre, Cahiers Renaud-Barrault, 2e année, n°4, Paris, Julliard, 1954
- André Breton (Édition publiée sous la direction d'Étienne-Alain Hubert avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier et Marie-Claire Dumas), « Aux "Quatre Diamants", cheval », Alentours, Œuvres complètes, tome IV, Écrits sur l'art et autres textes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2008, p. 1046, notice p. 1441

Creation date22-déc.-53
LanguagesFrench
Physical descriptionMs - encre noire
Reference566000
Breton Auction, 2003Lot 2374
Keywords, , ,
CategoriesManuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Permanent linkhttps://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100492410

See also

1 Work
 
False

La Soirée des proverbes

-
Georges Schehadé

Pièce en trois actes publiée chez Gallimard en 1954, à Paris.

Trois images, une notice descriptive, un lien.