LETTRE DE BENJAMIN PÉRET À ANDRÉ BRETON

par Michel Carassou

15 juin 2019

André Breton / Benjamin Péret
Correspondence, 1920-1959
Presented and edited by Gérard Roche
Gallimard, 2017

Mexico, January 12, 1942

[...] I have no intention of devoting myself to politics, but it cannot leave me indifferent and I do not believe it can leave any of us indifferent. In my opinion, it is a matter of marking our position in this domain and acting on the plane that is ours. I am also convinced that we will have to abandon much of surrealism, almost everything no doubt. What seems to me to have grown in our eyes in recent years and which could perhaps constitute a starting point is the "marvelous" in all its forms. Is there room for a modern marvelous? This is very badly said; I want to speak of a form of marvelous that expresses and transfigures our era. What new experiences do you see that could serve as a starting point? I also believe that if we succeed in setting up something new, we will have to abandon the word surrealism to cut with the past and sow the band of breathless blowers who will cling to outdated surrealism.

[...]

(Letter extracted from Breton / Péret Correspondence 1920-1959, presented and edited by Gérard Roche, Gallimard, 2017) read following Andrea Gremels' intervention.