Articles published in the “Chronicle” section of the journal are not necessarily linked to the main theme of the issue. In this case, it takes the recent publication of a volume of Aragon’s letters to Breton as a pretext to explore their remarkable friendship from 1918 to 1930.
Aragon, Letters to André Breton (1918–1931), Gallimard, 2011, 480 pages
These approximately 170 letters are both the chronicle of an impassioned friendship and its violent rupture, while also tracing a pivotal moment in twentieth-century modernity. An initial group gathers the letters from 1918–1919, written from the front, then from Alsace and the Saar region after the Armistice: as a medical auxiliary thrown into the front line, Aragon experienced firsthand the global slaughter—the shipwreck of a civilization out of which Dada revolt was born. Thereafter, the turbulent history of the Surrealist group unfolds, especially its engagement in political action beginning in 1925. Ultimately, the 1930 “Congress of Kharkov” seals Aragon’s commitment to communism and paves the way for his definitive break with Breton.
The numerous names mentioned throughout these pages bear witness to a friendship founded under the sign of literature—and of its radical critique: Rimbaud, then Lautréamont, served as vital intermediaries; Gide and Valéry were soon discarded; Apollinaire appears (in an unexpected light), along with Reverdy, “the offended angel”; Soupault, the first companion, followed by Éluard, Desnos… and the more disruptive allies, Tzara, Picabia…
Particularly valuable are the letters in which Aragon comments on his own aesthetic ideas, on the poem he's just finished—or offers subtle analysis of one received from Breton; as well as those in which their central and long-debated divergence already surfaces: the novel.
Incisive and never artificial, these letters truly reveal the moment of their writing. After reading them, one can no longer write about Aragon’s life—or read his work—in quite the same way.
Other reviews:
- Aragon/Breton: Collaborative Writing Games in 1922 and 1928 (openedition.org)
- Louis Aragon: Letters to André Breton – artpress
- Reflections by Daniel Bougnoux: The Aragon–Breton Duel – Le randonneur (la-croix.com)
See also on this site:
- 94. “The Dada Parenthesis” [Aragon], Europe, no. 745, May 1991, pp. 34–44.
- 95. “Aragon, Lautréamont’s Tone”, in The Workshop of a Writer: Aragon’s Nineteenth Century, texts edited by Édouard Béguin and Suzanne Ravis, Publications de l’Université de Provence, 2003, pp. 27–39.
- 96. “Lexicon in Aragon's Poetic Work: A Thoroughly French Poet,” in Cécile Narjoux (ed.), La Langue d’Aragon, “une constellation de mots”, Éditions universitaires de Dijon, 2011, pp. 27–44.
Further Reading:
See the “André Breton Workshop” website
Read the biography of André Breton in which I quote extensively the letters Breton addressed to his friend:
Henri Béhar, André Breton, the Great Undesirable, 3rd edition, Classiques Garnier, “Biographies” series (forthcoming)