The surrealism reader : an anthology of ideas /

Surrealism is one of the most influential cultural movements of the twentieth century. While its contribution to the art and literature of the century is well known, its relation to the development of intellectual ideas has only recently become a matter of serious investigation. This book details the surrealist engagement with major themes in the intellectual history of the twentieth century. It draws together essays from the whole history of surrealism to illustrate the tenacity and consistency with which the surrealists treated themes of psychological reality and the construction of identity, cultural communication, freedom and poetry. Drawn mostly from French and Spanish surrealist journals, the collection gathers together a wide range of texts dating from the 1920s up to the late 1990s, none of which has ever been translated into English before.Includes bibliographical references and index.Machine generated contents note: pt. 1 The Annihilation of Self-Identity -- Introduction -- The Haunting / Andre Breton -- Preface in Praise of Popular Prejudices / Pierre Mabille -- The Noble Mannequin Seeks and Finds her Skin / Rene Crevel -- The Light, the Shadow and the Prey / Paul Nouge -- Mirrors / Pierre Mabille -- Non-Scientific Treatise on the Fourth Dimension / Marcel Marien -- The 'Caput Mortuum' or the Alchemist's Wife / Michel Leiris -- What Is a Woman? / Leonora Carrington -- Leave Everything / Annie Le Brun -- Memory of the Last One / Vincent Bounoure -- You Will Always Cherish your Failures, Machine-Man / Bernard Caburet -- pt. 2 The Challenge of Otherness -- Introduction -- Pamphlet against Jerusalem / Robert Desnos -- The Universal Bases of Culture / Antonin Artaud -- Don't Clutter up the Colonies (fragment); Approaching the Enchanted Castle / Jacques Viot -- The Patriotism of the Unconscious / Rene Crevel -- Ruins: Ruin of Ruins / Benjamin PeretNote continued: The Nocturnal Sand / The Bucharest Surrealist Group -- The Friendship of Man and Beast / Georges Bataille -- Cat = Clover / Jacqueline Senard-Duprey -- Embers in Ceridwen's Cauldron / Andre Breton -- Light or Life / Benjamin Peret -- The Twilight of the Wheeler-Dealers / Robert Benayoun -- The Passage from Poetry to Philosophy / Rene Menil -- A Creolism Sewn with White Thread / Annie Le Brun -- The Exit from Egypt / Rene Alleau -- pt. 3 The Moral Imperative -- Introduction -- It's Up to You / Louis Aragon -- Note on Freedom / Louis Aragon -- Humour as a Moral Attitude / Marko Ristic -- Love of Revolution in our Time / Nicolas Calas -- Liberty versus Liberation / Andre Breton -- Reflections on the Executioner and the Victim / Georges Bataille -- Is Surrealism a Philosophy? / Gerard Legrand -- Freedom as Nostalgia and as Project / Georges Henein -- The Hidden Being / Elisabeth Lenk -- Festival Mood / Philippe Audoin -- Paradise / Pierre MabilleNote continued: pt. 4 The Tasks of Art and Poetry -- Introduction -- Notes on Poetry / Paul Eluard -- The Social Anarchy of Art / Antonin Artaud -- The Rotting Donkey / Salvador Dali -- Specification of Poetry / Roger Caillois -- Essay on the Situation of Poetry / Tristan Tzara -- Inviolable Images / Paul Nouge -- Systematisation and Determination / Roger Caillois -- The Subversive Function of Poetry / Georges Henein -- On Surrealist Semiology / Karel Teige -- The Sense of the World / Rene Magritte -- Automatic Perspective / Adrien Dax -- Notes on Poetry / Paul Nouge -- Surrealism and the Savage Heart / Vincent Bounoure -- Magic Art and Revolution / Vratislav Effenberger -- On the Utilitarian Conception of Language / Vratislav Effenberger.Surrealism is one of the most influential cultural movements of the twentieth century. While its contribution to the art and literature of the century is well known, its relation to the development of intellectual ideas has only recently become a matter of serious investigation. This book details the surrealist engagement with major themes in the intellectual history of the twentieth century. It draws together essays from the whole history of surrealism to illustrate the tenacity and consistency with which the surrealists treated themes of psychological reality and the construction of identity, cultural communication, freedom and poetry. Drawn mostly from French and Spanish surrealist journals, the collection gathers together a wide range of texts dating from the 1920s up to the late 1990s, none of which has ever been translated into English before