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'') ...

, the founder of

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

. Vaché was one of the chief inspirations behind the

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

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, with Jarry, with

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 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 the early ...

, with Nouveau, 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 (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

on 6 January 1919 from an overdose of

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

. 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 placed in front of the eye and held in place by the eye socket itself. Often, to avoid losing the monoc ...

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, Julien Torma, and Arthur Cravan. 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. 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 1919 deaths Dada French surrealist writers French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French male writers French military personnel of World War I French military personnel who died by suicide Drug-related suicides in France