"INTRODUCTION TO ANDRÉ BRETON'S POTLATCH", HISTOIRES LITTÉRAIRES, N° 77, 2019, P. 29-48.
Editorial
Patrick Besnier : An unknown chronicle by Raymond Roussel
Daniel Grojnowski : The Chat Noir years
Henri Béhar : Introduction to André Breton's Potlatch
Michael Roelli : The "science of the dreamer". Jean Paulhan, oneirologist
Interview with Claire Paulhan
Jean-Yves Mollier : Edouard Dentu, a collector publisher of the 19th century
Jacques-Remi Dahan : A first unpublished letter from Charles Nodier to Herbert Croft
Günter Schmigalle : Three unpublished letters from Laurent Tailhade to Rubén Darío
Philippe Chauvelot : Jean Lorrain, Letters to Rachilde 1885-1903
Jean-Paul Goujon : Fernand Fleuret, Dr Jean Vinchon and Apollinaire
José Moure, Claude Schopp : Rémi sans famille by Antoine Brossier
Chronicle of sales and catalogs
In society
Books received
Download the published article in PDF
See the reference work:
Back cover:
Each year in spring, book fairs bloom where curious people and enthusiasts come to exchange old books, already read. Better yet, some are only interested in books bearing the author's signature. They are even more satisfied if they are adorned with a few autograph words intended for the first reader. They call this "dedications" or "inscriptions."
These inscriptions must now be taken into consideration as an integral part of an author's work, just as textual genetics makes its honey from drafts, manuscripts, diaries, and correspondence. This is so true that, regarding André Breton, his heirs insisted on having digitized, in addition to his own manuscripts, the first pages of books he had received, equipped with an autograph inscription.
These were testimonies of an ongoing conversation, which I had to reconstruct by searching for the "inscriptions" written by André Breton himself. I was sure they had existed, because Breton showed it on various occasions, he could not accept a gift without giving the counter-gift, in the form of one of his own books. A very ancient custom, which the American Indians call Potlatch. The present collection proves that the poet never failed in the ritual.
Remarkable fact, these occasional messages escape the book trade and become poems in their own right, which add, in three dimensions, to his complete works. Indeed, we must here take into account the word, the message that the poet addresses orally to his reader, known to be himself an author, or at least an informed reader.
Hence the notices devoted to each of the five hundred recipients: they specify, as far as possible, the relations that André Breton maintained with each of them, preferably on the book level. Beyond surrealist friends, at all times, we will find personalities that are at least surprising, at all levels of society.
H.B. 560 illustrated pages (dedications from and to André Breton – Michel Butor, Paul Claudel, Colette, Marguerite Duras, etc.)
Format: Paperback Number of pages: 558 pages Weight: 1200 g Dimensions: 18cm X 25cm Publication date: 01/06/2020 ISBN: 978-2-35548-143-7
A study of the inscriptions offered by André Breton (1896-1966) and those he received, some of which are reproduced. Taking up an Amerindian tradition, the potlatch, which consists of exchanging gifts, the surrealist poet would send a dedicated copy of one of his books to a correspondent, a personality from the world of arts, letters or politics, who had offered him one. ©Electre 2020
Review by Georges Sebbag:
Des envois à la pelle au vent – Philosophie et surréalisme (philosophieetsurrealisme.fr) or here
Review by Pierre Taminiaux:
Review by Alain Trouvé:
Publication, Henri Béhar, "Potlatch André Breton", éd. du Lérot | LIRE ÉCRIRE, D'UN CONTINENT À L'AUTRE (ra2il.org)
And the supplement to the initial volume:
Potlatch André Breton complément | Henri Béhar (melusine-surrealisme.fr)
Potlatch André Breton complément
In the collection Potlatch André Breton ou La Cérémonie du don, published in 2020 by Editions Du Lérot in Tusson, I think I have demonstrated that, if he received a book equipped with an autograph "inscription" signed by the author, André Breton would not delay in making him the counter-gift of one of his own books, recently published, or still adapted to the image he had of the signatory. But it is obvious that he often took the initiative of giving one of his works, adorned with a specific inscription, to his best friends and acquaintances. I continue this demonstration below, in a complementary digital collection in PDF format. According to his taste, the reader can read it directly on screen or print it to insert the pages into the vellum volume of the first edition.