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**Response to a questionnaire by Le Figaro**

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
People cited Gaston Bachelard, José Corti, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Gaston Leroux, Pierre Mabille, Blaise Pascal, Pierre Quercy, Arthur Rimbaud, Louis Poirier, dit Julien Gracq, Benjamin Péret

Description

Manuscript notes for an article by André Breton drafted at the request of Le Figaro and dated 24^thFebruary 1940.

What do soldiers read? From Poitiers, where he had been mobilised during the ‘phony war’, Breton gave this reply to an enquiry by Le Figaro that could not be called circumstantial – other than in citing Mermoz’s memoirs that he had seen others reading – but that, on the contrary, expressed his constancy. Lautréamont, Rimbaud, Pascal were the names he began with, the cream of the classics in his view, the kind of books you would choose to have on a desert island. He nevertheless took the opportunity to slip in one or two insights into contemporary literature, for instance in mentioning Pierre Mabille’s latest book. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]  

Handwritten manuscript, Poitiers, 24^th Februrary 1940. 
- 1 in-4° manuscript page in green ink by Breton, dated Poitiers 24^th February 1940 and titled in red pencil ‘Enquiry by Le Figaro’. 
Numerous deletions in green ink and corrections in pencil. 
“Without thinking my first choice was two books that were the greatest refuge for me between the wars: Pascal and Rimbaud... Then the two works that to this day have been the most advanced expression in verse or prose:  I Sublime by Benjamin Péret and The Castle of Argol by Julien Gracq.” [Auction catalogue, 2003]

Bibliography

- « Ce qu'ils lisent », Le Figaro littéraire, samedi 9 mars 1940.

Le Figaro du 9 mars 1940 sur Retronews