Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

home early, leaving me alone with my beautiful ballerina; but, trueto form, I was seized by that awkwardness which seemed an inevitablepart of my relationships with women. Suddenly there I was, launchinginto an intense political discussion about Russia, communism,and the revolution. The dancer made it perfectly clear that she wasvehemently anti-Communist; in fact, she had no hesitation in talkingabout the crimes committed by the current regime. I lost my temperand called her a dirty reactionary; we argued for a long time untilfinally I gave her money for a cab and left in a turmoil. Later, ofcourse, I was filled with remorse, as I had so often been in the past.DURING this period, there were so many surrealist capers that it'sdifficult to decide which to describe, but I remember well the dayin 1930 when Sadoul and Jean Caupenne were sitting reading theirnewspapers in a cafe somewhere in the provinces. One of the itemsin the paper concerned the results of a contest at the military academyof Saint-Cyr. The first-prize winner was someone named Keller, andas they read, both were struck by the same notion. There they were,totally at loose ends, all alone in the country, bored to tears withnothing to do, and suddenly they heard themselves saying, "Whatif we write this idiot a letter?"No sooner said than done. The waiter brought pen and paper,and our two surrealists composed one of the most eloquently insultingletters in the history of the movement. It included such unforgettablelines as: "We spit on the tricolore. With your own soldiers in revolt,we'll spill the guts of every officer in the French army. And shouldthey force us to fight, we'll serve under the glorious pointed helmetsof the Germans."When the prize winner received the letter, he turned it over tothe director of the academy, who in turn gave it to General Gouraud.At the same time, it was published in Le Surrhlzsrne uu service de laRevolution. The scandal rocked the country; Sadoul was expelled fromFrance altogether, while Caupenne was hauled off to jail. The fathersof both men had to apologize to army headquarters in Paris, yet even