André BRETON asks Ferdinand Alquié and mentions Jacques LACAN.

André Breton (1896.1966)

Signed autograph letter.

Two pages in-4° on AEAR letterhead

Trace of tape on the margins and fragility at the folds.

Paris. February 4, 1933.

“I ended up agreeing to take charge of the AEAR magazine in collaboration with Vaillant-Couturier”

André Breton has just accepted the direction of the AEAR and wishes for collaboration with the philosopher Ferdinand Alquié whom he had imagined contacting through his psychoanalyst friend Jacques Lacan. It is this same Alquié who, with his text published in May 1933 in the journal Le Surréalisme au service de la revolution denouncing the “wind of systematic cretinization blowing from the USSR”, will lead to the break between Breton and the French Communist Party .

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“My dear friend, I am deeply sensitive to the new mark of esteem and friendship that your letter brings me and I assure myself that, whatever fear I may have had temporarily, our paths will ultimately not be move away from each other. Only doubt and a melancholy that I believe we share are likely to give us the opposite illusion on certain days.

After much hesitation, I finally agreed to take on the management of the AEAR [Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists] review in collaboration with Vaillant-Couturier. I'm still not sure exactly what this will lead me to. In all likelihood, the first issue will appear at the end of March. Only then will we be able to assess the merits or demerits of this decision. Furthermore (and also as a consequence) it seems necessary to me to publish very soon issues ⁵ and 6 of "Surreal. ASDLR" [Surrealism in the Service of the Revolution] and to make them as characteristic as possible. It seems to me that you could help me by sending me a text of yours, theoretical or not, fairly short if you would like, since the contributors are very numerous and the material resources are increasingly limited, which you would judge particularly significant from a surrealist point of view. At the same time, I would be extremely happy if you could obtain from Ferdinand Alquié a similar collaboration , on a subject of his choice. I have heard too much about him in ideal terms not to wish very much that he would grant it to me. I had thought of having him ask for it through Dr. Jacques Lacan, who is one of our best mutual friends, but it seems to me infinitely preferable that it be you, my dear friend, who decides it. Would you please reply to me on these two subjects? (It goes without saying that I would also receive with joy from him as from you any kind of critical notes of the kind that usually appear in the journal).

Naturally, I am at a loss to tell you which journal might be suitable for an article by one of you on "Communicating Vessels." Imagine how much I regret it; these are obviously the only judgments that interest me (and not those of Mr. Gros or Mr. Lanoé!) But literary publications, and this is after all a very good thing, continue to be at loggerheads with me.

If the proposal I made above seems acceptable to you, would you be so kind as to tell me what you plan to talk about, so that I can take it into account when composing the issues? Have you seen the portrait of these two charming young girls from Le Mans in today's "Journal"? I hope to hear from you soon, won't I? Has Alquié received my book (copies are getting lost)? Please accept my very faithful affection. André Breton. 42 rue Fontaine Paris 9e.

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The Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists was created in March 1932. Under the tacit authority of the Communist Party, it was intended to develop the relationship between revolutionary engagement and national culture. The AEAR died out in 1939.