Considering the genesis of surrealism, the analysis observes the discourses, contemporary as well as retrospective, of Breton, Aragon, and Soupault in order to understand how the year 1917 is inscribed within them, and how memories of the war and of the surrealist venture are associated with them. The narrative and memorial endeavour of the three poets aims at building the history of the movement – indeed its collective myth –, however is also haunted by the desire to tell one’s story and make room for the Great War in a personal, poetic life. The line of sight of 1917 sketches out another crossed history, the rhythms and the significations of which displace the accents of the individual stories, of the academic history and of the literary memory of surrealism.