Jacques Vaché Jacques Vaché (7 September 1895 – 6 January 1919) was a friend of

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

, the founder of

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. Vaché was one of the chief inspirations behind the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

movement. As Breton said: :"''En littérature, je me suis successivement épris de Rimbaud, de Jarry, d'Apollinaire, de Nouveau, de Lautréamont, mais c'est à Jacques Vaché que je dois le plus''" :("In literature, I was successively taken with

Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, with Jarry, with

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...

, with

Nouveau A ''nouveau'' ( ), or ''vin (de) primeur'', is a wine which may be sold in the same year in which it was harvested. The most widely exported ''nouveau'' wine is French wine Beaujolais ''nouveau'' which is released on the third Thursday of N ...

, with Lautréamont, but it is Jacques Vaché to whom I owe the most") He was born on 7 September 1895 in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, France, and died in a hotel room in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

on 6 January 1919 from an overdose of

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

. Alongside him lay the naked body of another French soldier.

believed his death to be a suicide. He was known for his indifference and for wearing a

monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...

References

* ''Lettres de guerre'' - with essays by

(Au Sans Pareil, 1919) * ''Jacques Vaché'' by Bertrand Lacarelle (Grasset, 2005) * ''4 Dada Suicides: Selected Texts of Arthur Cravan, Jacques Rigaut, Julien Torma & Jacques Vaché'' (Anti-Classics of Dada) by Vaché,

Jacques Rigaut Jacques Rigaut (; 30 December 1898 – 9 November 1929) was a French surrealist poet. Born in Paris, he was part of the Dadaist movement. His works frequently talked about suicide and he came to regard its successful completion as his occupation. ...

Julien Torma Julien Torma (Cambrai, 6 April 1902 – Tyrol, 17 February 1933) was credited as a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the Dadaist movement. Torma disappeared in the mountains of the Tyrol at the age of 30. Due to his secretive ...

, and

Arthur Cravan Arthur Cravan (born Fabian Avenarius Lloyd; 22 May 1887 – disappeared 1918) was a Swiss writer, poet, artist and boxer. He was the second son of Otho Holland Lloyd and Hélène Clara St. Clair. His brother Otho Lloyd was a painter and photog ...

. Roger Conover, Terry J. Hale, Paul Lenti, and Iain White (editors), 1995,

Atlas Press Atlas Press began publishing in 1983, and specialises in extremist and avant-garde prose writing from the 1890s to the present day. It is the largest publisher in English of books on Surrealism and has an extensive list relating to Dada, Surreal ...

; * ''Jacques Vaché and the Roots of Surrealism: Including Vaché's War Letters & Other Writings'' by

Franklin Rosemont Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009) was an American poet, artist, historian, street speaker, and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group. Over four decades, Franklin produced a body of work, of declarations, manifestos, poetry, collage, hidden hi ...

. Charles H Kerr Company Publishers, 2008;

External links

Electronic text of ''Lettres de guerre''
at the Digital Dada Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Vache, Jacques 1895 births 1919 suicides Dada French surrealist writers French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French male writers French military personnel of World War I