Introduction

On the night of 25 September 1922, André Breton and his wife Simone Kahn (1897-1988) entertained young poets René Crevel (1900-1935), Max Morise (1900-1973) and Robert Desnos (1900-1945) at their house on 42, rue Fontaine, Paris. The party proceeded to conduct what appeared to be a séance: at 9 pm, the lights were dimmed and all sat around a table holding hands. After a while, Crevel, the instigator of the whole adventure, entered a trance-like state, uttering cries, words and sentences. A second attempt was made immediately: Desnos now entered a trance state, during which he too uttered some words and scratched at the table. Later, Breton would call the trance state a ‘sleeping state,’ and the séance a ‘sleeping session.’ At the time, this first sleeping session was considered a success and well worth repeating. Over the following days, weeks and then months, well into the spring of 1923, a varying group of people gathered for more. They included, besides those mentioned above, Gala Diakonova (1894-1982) and Paul Éluard (1895-1952), Benjamin Péret (1899-1959), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Louis Aragon (1897-1982), Roger Vitrac (1899-1952), Man Ray (1890-1976) and Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), among others. Some attended a few sessions, others many. Crevel, Desnos and Péret proved to be the most adept, entering trances again and again; while entranced, they recounted stories, answered questions and wrote or drew things on paper. Desnos allegedly established telepathic contact with Marcel Duchamp's alter ego Rrose Sélavy. Other committed participants, such as Breton, Ernst, Éluard and Morise, however, never entered a ‘sleeping state,’ ‘despite their goodwill.’

The sessions became increasingly dark in tone and even violent. Crevel prophesied that all those present would get tuberculosis and die. To general dismay, some of the participants became ill in the next few days. Desnos proved more and more difficult to wake up and even required the aid of a hastily summoned doctor on one occasion. On another, apparently still entranced, he tried to stab Éluard with a penknife after the latter had resorted to emptying a jug of water over him to awaken him. When, at a certain point, Breton discovered several members of the group in a side room preparing to hang themselves on Crevel's instigation, it became clear that things were getting out of hand. He put an end to the sessions.