Antonin ARTAUD, informed by Christ, announces the imminent Apocalypse. 1937.

Antonin ARTAUD (1896-1948)

Autograph letter signed (in the text) to René Thomas and Annie Besnard.

Four pages in-4° on lined paper.

Incomplete letter from the end.

[Dublin. September 1937]

“I entered into the mysteries of the World with the cane of Jesus Christ . »

Fascinating letter from Antonin Artaud struck by mystical delusions. Informed by Christ himself who now “speaks to him every day”, the poet announces the imminent apocalypse to his friends.

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“My dear Annie, My dear Thomas, If someone comes to Rue Daguerre 21, and asks you if I am married, answer No , of course, but if you are asked if there was any question of marriage for me , Also answer NO , that I never even thought about it.

My existence, you hear, my EXISTENCE depends on your answer. I cannot yet tell you what it is, but it is a matter of formidable seriousness.

The truth is that there are formidable mysteries in the World, that the World is not what we believe, nor especially as seen by those who say that they only believe in what they believe. see.

The truth, my dear Annie, my dear Thomas, is that I entered the mysteries of the World with the cane of Jesus Christ that my friend René Thomas gave me. Because the cane that I own is the same one of Jesus Christ, and you two who know very well that I am not crazy, you will believe me if I tell you that Jesus Christ now speaks to me every day , reveals to me all that what is going to happen, and orders me to do what I am going to do.

So I have come here to Ireland to obey the very commands of God, the Son, incarnated in Jesus Christ. It was inspired by Jesus Christ that Marie-Anne left this cane at 21 rue Daguerre, to Thomas, so that Thomas would give it to me and let her do her work.

It is because this cane stayed on rue Daguerre that all the Beings who played a major role in my life passed through rue Daguerre. In about 20 days, my dear friends, and I tell you this without boasting, because it is driven by God alone that I act and without Him I would not act, in about 20 days you will hear thunder formidable on the World , because the cane of Jesus Christ will be used at the end of the world and it must fight the antichrist. The antichrist himself will not come for a few years but in 20 days the face of things will be changed and there will no longer be any question of war in China, nor of battle in the Mediterranean. England will have something else to do, I swear to you, because it will disappear from the map of the globe and part of England Island will disappear under the sea.

If I were only a man I would say that I am going to risk death myself, but there is someone else inside me who warns me of what must happen and tells me that I I have nothing to fear. Just know, and this is all I can tell you for now, that within 20 days I will speak in the Name of God Himself, in the midst of thunder from God .

I will not have to draw any glory from it, alas, because soon my name will no longer be Antonin Artaud, I will have become someone else, and the Duty incumbent on me is formidable.
It is formidable, Annie, to suddenly discover who you are and that in reality you were someone else, and that this other was Ramses II in Egypt , really Annie, really , and that he was other men in time, all charged with terrible responsibilities supported by powers, also terrible perhaps, but overwhelming. I can tell you further that I now know that there are demons because I have seen and heard of them, I also know that a plot…”

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Artaud had met René Thomas in early 1937 on the terrace of the Dôme in Montparnasse, carrying a cane in his hand. Artaud had told him that this cane was his, that it was cited in the prophecy of Saint Patrick and that it still contained the blood of Christ.

On September 23, 1937, Antonin Artaud was arrested in Dublin for vagrancy and disturbing the peace. On the 29th, he was forced onto an American liner heading for France. As soon as he arrived on national soil, Artaud was handed over to the French authorities who took him to the General Hospital, shackled in a straitjacket. Deemed violent, dangerous for himself and for others and suffering from hallucinations and ideas of persecution as indicated in the certificate of October 13, 1937, drawn up by Doctor R. before the transfer to Quatre-Mares: “[ He] says that he is presented with poisoned food, that gas is thrown at him in his cell, that cats are put in his face, sees black men near him, believes he is being hunted by the police, threatens those who surround it. Dangerous for himself and for others, and attests that there is an urgent need to have the above-mentioned admitted to the departmental asylum. », he is placed in the ward for the insane.

Bibliography: Antonin Artaud. Letters 1937-1943. Editions Gallimard.