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Sleeping fit

First period of hypnotic sleeping fits

Manuscript

Author

Author Robert Desnos
People cited Louis Aragon, Pierre Villoteay, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Tristan Tzara

Description

Manuscript of a particularly extraordinary sleeping fit of Desnos from 1922. When asked why there is nothing left of Dada, Desnos becomes a pythia. “Because Dada has become Dada”, he replies, also mentioning, on several occasions, “three or four bananas”. This session was one of the richest and, undoubtedly, one of the most amusing; before answering his friends' questions in writing, Desnos improvised orally on the theme of the future world, featuring an Aragon making the revolution "like a tennis player" and speaking "for the freedom of brothels", while Breton harangues a crowd of millions. Ernst is absent from the scene, as he has been "mad for several years". Once again, the future is on agenda in these sessions obsessed with the world to come - tomorrow, the time of a changed life, the time of the seers and their predictions... First period of hypnotic sleeping fits Fifteen in-4° autograph pages from the ‘Sleeping Fits’ series, in black pencil, mostly on Congrès de Paris letterheaded paper. "Why is there nothing left of Dada? Apart from 3 or 4 bananas there is nothing left of Dada because Dada has become Dada."
Creation date1922
Date of publication 1922
LanguagesFrench
Physical descriptionMs - crayon noir
Library

Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris : BRT 161

Method of acquisition and collectionBibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris, don Aube et Oona Elléouët
Reference32000
Breton Auction, 2003Lot 2026
Keywords,
CategoriesManuscripts, Surrealists Manuscripts
Set[Manuscripts] Sommeils
Permanent linkhttps://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100202620