Editing André Breton (section)

===World War II and exile===
Breton was again in the medical corps of the [[French Army]] at the start of [[World War II]]. The [[Vichy France|Vichy]] government banned his writings as "the very negation of the [[Révolution nationale|national revolution]]"<ref name="rosemont">Franklin Rosemont ''André Breton and the First Principles of Surrealism'', 1978, {{ISBN|0-904383-89-X}}.</ref> and Breton escaped, with the help of the American [[Varian Fry]] and [[Hiram Bingham IV|Hiram "Harry" Bingham IV]], to the [[United States]] and the [[Caribbean]] during 1941.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schiffrin |first=Anya |date=2019-10-03 |title=How Varian Fry Helped My Family Escape the Nazis |url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/03/how-varian-fry-helped-my-family-escape-the-nazis/ |work=[[The New York Review of Books|NYR Daily]] |access-date=2020-07-11 |archive-date=2020-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711175257/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/03/how-varian-fry-helped-my-family-escape-the-nazis/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/varian-fry |title=Emergency Escape: Vatican Fry |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=Americans and the Holocaust |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |access-date=2020-07-11 |archive-date=2020-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726012358/https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/varian-fry |url-status=live }}</ref> He emigrated to [[New York City]] and lived there for a few years.<ref name="André Breton"/> In 1942, Breton organized a groundbreaking surrealist exhibition at [[Yale University]].<ref name="André Breton"/>

In 1942,<ref>André Breton, ''Fata Morgana''. Buenos Aires: Éditions des lettres françaises, Sur, 1942.</ref> Breton collaborated with artist [[Wifredo Lam]] on the publication of Breton's poem "Fata Morgana", which was illustrated by Lam.

Breton got to know [[Martinique|Martinican]] writers [[Suzanne Césaire]] and [[Aimé Césaire]], and later composed the introduction to the 1947 edition of Aimé Césaire's ''[[Cahier d'un retour au pays natal]]''. During his exile in New York City he met [[Elisa Breton|Elisa Bindhoff]], the [[Chile]]an woman who would become his third wife.<ref name=":1" />

In 1944, he and Elisa traveled to the [[Gaspé Peninsula]] in [[Quebec|Québec]], where he wrote ''Arcane 17'', a book which expresses his fears of World War II, describes the marvels of the [[Percé Rock]] and the extreme northeastern part of North America, and celebrates his new romance with Elisa.<ref name=":1" />

During his visit to [[Haiti]] in 1945–46, he sought to connect surrealist politics and [[Automatism (law)|automatist]] practices with the legacies of the [[Haitian Revolution]] and the ritual practices of [[Haitian Vodou|Vodou]] possession. Recent developments in Haitian painting were central to his efforts, as can be seen from a comment that Breton left in the visitors' book at the [[Centre d'Art]] in [[Port-au-Prince]]: "Haitian painting will drink the blood of the phoenix. And, with the epaulets of [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines|[Jean-Jacques] Dessalines]], it will ventilate the world." Breton was specifically referring to the work of painter and Vodou priest [[Hector Hyppolite]], whom he identified as the first artist to directly depict Vodou scenes and the lwa (Vodou deities), as opposed to hiding them in [[chromolithography|chromolithographs]] of Catholic saints or invoking them through impermanent vevé (abstracted forms drawn with powder during rituals). Breton's writings on Hyppolite were undeniably central to the artist's international status from the late 1940s on, but the surrealist readily admitted that his understanding of Hyppolite's art was inhibited by their lack of a common language. Returning to France with multiple paintings by Hyppolite, Breton integrated this artwork into the increased surrealist focus on the occult, myth, and magic.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Geis |first=T. |date=2015 |title=Myth, History and Repetition: André Breton and Vodou in Haiti |journal=South Central Review |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages= 56–75|doi=10.1353/scr.2015.0010 |s2cid=143481322 }}</ref>

Breton's sojourn in Haiti coincided with the overthrow of the country's president, [[Élie Lescot]], by a radical protest movement. Breton's visit was warmly received by ''La Ruche'', a youth journal of revolutionary art and politics, which in January 1946 published a talk given by Breton alongside a commentary which Breton described as having "an insurrectional tone". The issue concerned was suppressed by the government, sparking a student strike, and two days later, a general strike: Lescot was toppled a few days later. Among the figures associated with both ''La Ruche'' and the instigation of the revolt were the painter and photographer [[Gérald Bloncourt]] and the writers [[René Depestre]] and [[Jacques Stephen Alexis]]. In subsequent interviews Breton downplayed his personal role in the unrest, stressing that "the misery, and thus, the patience of the Haitian people, were at the breaking point" at the time and stating that "it would be absurd to say that I alone incited the fall of the government". [[Michael Löwy]] has argued that the lectures that Breton gave during his time in Haiti resonated with the youth associated with ''La Ruche'' and the student movement, resulting in them "plac(ing) them as a banner on their journal" and "t(aking) hold of them as they would a weapon". Löwy has identified three themes in Breton's talks which he believes would have struck a particular chord with the audience, namely surrealism's faith in youth, Haiti's revolutionary heritage, and a quote from [[Jacques Roumain]] extolling the revolutionary potential of the Haitian masses.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jacobin.com/2022/07/andre-breton-haiti-revolution-communists-surrealism |title=The Founder of Surrealism Helped Inspire a Revolution in Haiti |last=Löwy |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Löwy|date=19 July 2022 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|access-date=2022-07-21}}</ref>