"Comment, comme je le fis, ne pas se révolter ? Le souvenir de cette révolte surgit en moi en prononçant le nom de Cocteau..."

Manuscript note with corrections by Philippe Soupault, 22 lines in purple ink on a sheet, bearing at the top this inscription: "p.14 bis", recalling the creation, on May 18, 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, of the famous ballet Parade by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes on a text by Jean Cocteau, music by Erik Satie and scenography by Pablo Picasso. This work being inspired by Georges Seurat's painting Circus Sideshow.
The co-author, with André Breton, of the surrealist manifesto "Les champs magnétiques" relegates the ballet to the rank of distraction for rear-guard shirkers completely unconscious of the historical stakes of the moment: "C'était l'année de la bataille de Verdun, le Tout-Paris, les snobs et les embusqués parlaient d'un ballet "russe" intitulé Parade (1) dont Erik Satie disait : "Picasso a créé les décors et les costumes et j'ai composé la musique et Cocteau a écrit trois lignes... Et Parade est de Cocteau..."" (It was the year of the Battle of Verdun, all of Paris, the snobs and draft dodgers were talking about a "Russian" ballet titled Parade (1) of which Erik Satie said: "Picasso created the sets and costumes and I composed the music and Cocteau wrote three lines... And Parade is by Cocteau...").
Philippe Soupault is outraged by such indifference to the fate of the valorous Poilus in the trenches: "Tandis qu'on applaudissait Parade j'entendais mes voisins revivre leurs cauchemars... On annonçait dans les communiqués des "duels d'artillerie". Plus de trois cents mille morts de chaque côté. Comment, comme je le fis, ne pas se révolter ? Le souvenir de cette révolte surgit en moi en prononçant le nom de Cocteau.." (While they were applauding Parade I heard my neighbors reliving their nightmares... The communiqués announced "artillery duels". More than three hundred thousand dead on each side. How, as I did, not to revolt? The memory of this revolt surges in me upon pronouncing Cocteau's name...).
Fascinating and acerbic memories from the last living historical surrealist concerning the revolutionary ballet "Parade" likening it to a preoccupation of idle bourgeois neglecting the hecatombs of the Great War.