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The Great Ode to Silexam

How beautiful it is!

Manuscript

Author

Authors André Breton, Robert Desnos, Benjamin Péret

Description

Manuscript and typescript of the ‘Grande ode au silexame’ for Comme il fait beau! [How beautiful it is!] a surrealist play co-written by Breton, Desnos and Péret in 1922.

The ‘Grande ode au silexame’ [Great Ode to Silexam], which was hastily jotted down and then typed up, is a real bravura piece in Comme il fait beau!, a surrealist play co-written by Breton, Desnos and Péret, based on the latter's ‘sleeping fits’ of the two previous years. The ‘Great Ode’ is essentially the work of Desnos, whose astonishing pharmacological knowledge can be found in the text. Desnos was not a pharmacist, but around 1918 he earned his living as a multilingual translator of medical leaflets for the pharmaceutical company, Darasse Frères. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Manuscript and typescript, undated [1923] and unsigned

- 5 pages in-4° handwritten on verso on Hotchkiss letterheaded paper in black pencil, folioed from 1 to 5.

- 3 pages in-4° typescript on translucent paper.

[Atelier André Breton website, 2013]

 

Bibliography

- André Breton, Robert Desnos, Benjamin Péret, « Comme il fait beau ! », Littérature, n°9, 1er février-1er mars 1923, pp. 6 à 13.

- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Comme il fait beau !, Œuvres complètes, tome I, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1988, pages 439-448 .

 

Creation date1922
Bibliographical material

- 5 pages in-4° handwritten on the verso of Hotchkiss letterheaded paper in black pencil, folioed from 1 to 5. 

- 3 pages in-4° typescript on translucent paper.

Date of publication 01/02/1923
LanguagesFrench
Physical descriptionMs et Ts - crayon noir
Reference414000
Breton Auction, 2003Lot 2058
Keywords, ,
CategoriesAndre Breton's Manuscripts, Surrealists Manuscripts
Set[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts, [Journal] Littérature
Permanent linkhttps://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100426420

See also

1 Work
 
False

Litterature, N°9

-

The ninth number of the second series of this very important surrealist journal. Numerous original autograph texts appear on tabs opposite the printed texts.

Twenty-three images, a descriptive note, a collection, links.

[Journal] Littérature