Author André BretonPeople cited G. Abélard, Nicolas Calas, Georges Duthuit, Eckhart, René Étiemble, Héraclite, Isidore Ducasse, dit comte de Lautréamont, Pierre Mabille, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Ludwig Achim von Arnim, Georges Bataille, Roger Caillois, Max Ernst, André Masson, Benjamin Péret, Kurt Seligmann, Louis Aragon, Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, Giorgio De Chirico, Emile Duclaux, Friedrich Engels, Georges Hénein, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Vladimir Ilitch Oulianov, dit Lénine, Stéphane Mallarmé, Friedrich von Hardenberg, dit Novalis, Gilles de Rais ou Retz, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, Jonathan Swift, Aimé Césaire, Salvador Dalí, William James, Alfred Jarry, Roberto Echauren Matta, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy, Léon Trotsky
Handwritten manuscript by André Breton in green ink on yellowed paper, with erasures and corrections, signed and dated 28 April 1942. Published in the first issue of the journal VVV in New York in June 1942.
Published in June 1942 in VVV, the ‘Prolegomena to a Third Manifesto of Surrealism or Not’ is a response to the criticisms made by Wolfgang Paalen, who in a ‘Farewell to Surrealism’ denounced the fragility of systems of thought, and in particular that of Surrealism, in the face of the monstrous and oppressive event of the World War. Breton reacts to this criticism by making surrealism itself the locus of research, not an affirmation or a belief. He thus reformulates his project for the American public, for whom the text is intended, distinguishing it, for example, from the corruptions that may have been acquired from Dali. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]
Handwritten manuscript signed, New York, 28 April 1942
- 4 pages in-4, a handwritten text, the first draft of this important document written in New York, titled, dated and signed in green ink by André Breton in constricted handwriting, with numerous erasures and corrections.
‘There is probably too much north in me for me ever to be able to give anything my complete adhesion. As I see it, this north consists of natural granite fortifications and mist. If I am only too able to demand everything of a being I find beautiful, I am far from giving those abstract constructions we call systems the same credit. [...]
‘Moreover, the fact remains that at the end of twenty years I feel obliged as I did during my youth to pronounce myself against all conformism and in doing so to take aim against surrealist conformism when it is too certain of itself.’ (Œuvres complètes, Volume III, ‘Prolégomènes à un troisième Manifeste du surréalisme ou non’, 1942, p. 5-15) [sale catalogue, 2003].
*Translated by Michael Richardson.
- VVV, n° 1, juin 1942, p. ??
- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Marie-Claire Dumas, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Prolégomènes à un troisième manifeste du surréalisme ou non, Œuvres complètes, tome> III, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1999, pages 5-15.
| Creation date | 28-avr.-42 |
| Bibliographical material | 4 pages in-4° |
| Date of publication | 1942 |
| Languages | French |
| Library | |
| Number of pages | 4 p. |
| Reference | 474000 |
| Breton Auction, 2003 | Lot 2244 |
| Keywords | Manifesto, Work notes, Surrealism |
| Categories | Andre Breton's Manuscripts |
| Set | [AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts, [Journal] VVV |
| Permanent link | https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100955890 |
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« This ‘document’ is a handwritten text by André Breton, composed of quotations and addressed to Matta.
Two images, a descriptive note, a library, a bibliography.
[AB's Manuscripts] Manifestes du Surréalisme, [AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
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Numéro 1, publié en juin 1942, de cette revue surréaliste fondée par David Hare en 1942 à New York.
Aucune image, une notice descriptive, un lien.
problème balise retour à la ligne
04/04/2018
