The Collection
Home Page > Works > Sleeping fit by Robert Desnos of 30 September 1922Sleeping fit by Robert Desnos of 30 September 1922
First hypnotic sleeping fits
Author
Author Robert DesnosPeople cited Max Morise, Maximilien Robespierre, Jacques Vaché, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Max ErnstNotes by André Breton
Description
First written and illustrated sleeping fit by Robert Desnos dated 30 September 1922 and partly annotated by André Breton.
A fine, extended sequence that in the presence of Breton, Ernst, Éluard and Morise begins with a few spontaneous words from Desnos (evidence that there is another scribe), vaguely evoking a ‘multitude’ before a vision takes shape: gathered around the figure of Robespierre, who seems to be speaking (‘they become whiter than the hated flag of the monarchy’, ‘and this white collar that you rebuke me for’), this hostile multitude provokes an outburst: ‘You are the multitude and you tremble before my green stare. I despise you.’ In front of Robespierre is the guillotine, drawn with the comment ‘the lovely blood’. Behind him is a ‘bird of paradise’, which provokes the second major protagonist of this sleeping fit, the sky. ‘Robespierre is the sky’, and then follow an English ditty evoking the ‘sky’, then the phrase ‘the sky is a mouth’. Desnos, on brilliant form, projects himself into the past so as to bring back the figure of Vaché, and into the future to predict the death of Éluard and – something encountered again in another sleeping fit – the future madness of Max Ernst, and finally his own death, which provokes this mournful commentary: ‘What can be said of me?’ No doubt the highlight of this sequence, between past and future, is this phrase: ‘Here is the bell that announces the war and the end of the interval.’ Is the game over?
First hypnotic sleeping fits.
30 September 1922.
- 24 in-4° manuscript pages on the headed notepaper of the ‘Congrès de Paris’ written by Desnos in black pencil, contained in an identical sheet folded in half and labelled by Breton: ‘Saturday 30 September, Desnos, 1st sleeping fit.’
Most of the questions are transcribed by Breton:
‘What do you see of the relationship between Breton and Vaché. What is it like? - The Loire at 5 in the evening, an autumn market – Where is Vaché, what is he doing?’
Desnos draws what resembles a human figure wearing a cap and the title: ‘the purple flower’.
Two extracted drawings inserted in Littérature.
Bibliography
- « Sommeil », Littérature nouvelle série n° 6 du 1er novembre 1922.
Creation date | 30-sept.-22 |
Date of publication | 1922 |
Languages | French |
Physical description | Ds et Ms - crayon noir |
Library | |
Method of acquisition and collection | Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris, don Aube et Oona Elléouët |
Reference | 37000 |
Breton Auction, 2003 | Lot 2026 |
Keywords | Graphic Arts, Dream, Automatic Writing |
Categories | Manuscripts, Surrealists Manuscripts |
Set | [Manuscripts] Sommeils, [Journal] Littérature |
Permanent link | https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100712860 |