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Private texts by Artaud

Astrological prophecies

Manuscript

Author

Authors Antonin Artaud, André Breton

Description

Fragments of private texts written by Artaud between 1937 and the 1940s, re-read in 1949 and gathered together by Breton.

‘Re-read in 49’ by Breton, who seems also to have collated the extracts himself, this set gathers together fragments of private texts written by Artaud between 1937 and those years during the 1940s during which he was incarcerated at Rodez. Exploring the anxious zone of the slide towards madness, these texts could have interested Breton in two ways: for the experience they describe, similar to those that had always fascinated him, and for the affection that, despite their disagreements, connected him to this contemporary manifestation of the ‘accursed poet’ with whom he was reconciled after the war. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscript, 27 May 1937 - 14 January 1947.
- 12 in-8° pages of a school notebook, an annotated handwritten manuscript in ink (on the left-hand pages), and in ink and red pencil by Breton, in the form of a journal of astrological prophecies from 27 May 1937 to 25 May 1939, then taken up again from 31 May 1946 to 14 January 1947.
Introductory note by Breton on the first page: ‘8 Sept. 49. I re-read them eagerly as though I had never received them.’ 

‘3 June 1937. The 5 serpents have appeared
15 June 37. Horoscope New revelations 
15 July (1937) Yesterday the blood flowed publy [publicly].’

‘In January 47 this society was born from a magical sleight of hand, its institutions have only ever been founded so as to conceal the great secret.’

In his notebook André Breton has copied out quotations by Antonin Artaud drawn from Ci-gît and the Lettres de Rodez, some of which relate to the prophecies: 

‘I, A. A., I am my son, my father, my mother and me. Never again will I meet myself with beings who swallow the nail of life.
The great secret of Indian culture is to take the world back to zero, every time. The egg state was the anti-Artaud state par excellence.
Cane (of Saint Patrick) that came from René Thomas who received it from a sorcerer. Saint Patrick’s prophecy. As a means of defence it was worthless – 9^th October 1915 – In spring 1915 stabbed with a knife in the back, by two pimps in Marseille. It was an angel that wanted to stab me.’ [Auction catalogue, 2003]