Description

Handwritten notebook of three poems by Robert Desnos probably dating from 1924.

Desnos as he was himself: tasting mythology in order to mock it more effectively and, obsessed with suicide which appears from the first stanzas here, revealing a dark aspect throughout the text and an erotic cruelty (breasts torn by nails) to which he will give free rein in the texts of the late 1920s. The collage accompanying this text in verse recalls those included in the first Manifesto and Poisson soluble. Indeed the game that consisted of cutting out newspaper headlines and reassembling them was invented at rue Fontaine in May in 1924, the period during which this text was most likely written. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscript, 1924
School notebook with 3 manuscripts in black ink and a page of collages (4 pages in-8).
1 - ‘The Iliad’: ‘Warriors with white knees from Troy’.
1 2 - ‘Silence, O beloved and desired compact night’
1 3 - ‘ Keep your memories, protect the Cycades islands‘
1 4 - A full page original collage by Desnos, taken from press clippings.
1 Desnos's name is on the cover of the notebook in Breton’s handwriting. [sale catalogue, 2003]

*This entry was translated from the French by Michael Richardson.

Bibliography

Georges Sebbag éd., Dix cahiers surrréalistes, avril 1924, Jean-Michel Place / Dilecta, Albias / Paris, 2021. Rep. p. 61 - 69.

 

Creation date	1924
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms et un collage - encre noire cahier de 4 pages in-8°
Library	Bibliothèque municipale de Nantes : Ms 3487
Size	17,80 x 22,50 cm
Number of pages	24 p.
Reference	168000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2067
Keywords	Assemblage or collage, Work notes, Poetry
Categories	Surrealists Manuscripts
Set	[Archives] textes surréalistes ; cahiers surréalistes ; cachet, [Manuscripts] dossier Robert Desnos
Permanent link	https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100970170