vaneigem - a cavalier history of surrealism

5/28/2018 Vaneigem - A Cavalier History of Surrealism

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Raoul Vaneigem

J/1FD , /I,- UPUIS

Translated by Donald Nicholso-Smith


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avaler istory of Surrealism


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A CAVLIER

HSTO Y F

URAISM

by Jules-Franois Dupis

(aol Vaneigm]

Ts s-

Edin. ondon. n Fio


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First published as istore dnv d m y Paul Vermont,Nonville rance 1977.

Engish rnslaion copyrigh 1999 by Donald Niholson-Smith

ISB 83176-945

Libay of Congess Caaloging in Publication Dta: A cataog record

o this tite is avaiale ro the irary o ongr

British iar CataloguinginPuiction Daa A catalogue record

for this tie is availabe fro he British irr

AK Press EVA GG

Edinurgh

Scotad H8 9Y

AK resPO ox M

Sn rncisco A 9400682USA


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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Commissioned in 197 by a French publisher who planned to isse

it in series intended for high-school pupils, this Histoire dsinvo/te du

surralisme as ritten in a couple of weeks une the pressre of a

contractual deadline. The fact that the original bearer of the nae

chosen as a pseudonm, "Jules-Fran


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TABLE OF CONNS

. HISTORY AND SURREALISM

he Crisis of Culture

The Break from Dada

The Specificity of Surreaism

In the Shadow of the Communist Party

2 CHAGIG LIFE

The Refsa of Survival

Fragments of a Project of Human Emanciption

Knowedge of the Human and Its Experimea

Investigaion

3 TRANSFORMING THE WORLD

Revolutionar Ideoogy

An Informal Organization

4. PROMOTING HE IMAGE AS OBJECT

Language and Its Subversion

he Savage Eye and the Civiliation of th Image

5 CONVERTING TO MYSTICISM

Reconsecration

An Anti-Christian Ecumenism

6 NOW

TRANSLATOR'S ACKOWLEDGEETS

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6

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CHAPTER 1

HISTORY AND

SUREALIM


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CRISS OF CUL

ealism belongs to one of he teminal phases n the crsis of cl

e n nitary gimes of which mnarchy base on dvine right is

e best nown example the integrative power f myth conceald

e sepaation between ctre and social life Artsts wries schol

as and hilosophers jst lie he peasants he brgeois the wield-

es of pwe and even the King hmself had t live ot their con-

tactons within a hiearchcal stcte whh was from top t

tom the wor of a od and nchangeable in ts very essence.

he gowth of the boeois cass of mercants and manfc-

tes meant the moldng f hman elatonshs to te rationalty

of echange e mposition of the qantfiable pwer of mney with

mechansic cetainy as to its concete trth. Ths deveopment as

acompanied by an acceleatng endency tad sclaizaionwhich estryed the fomerly illic rlatinshp between mastes

an saves The reality of cass stggle broe n history wth the

sae btaty as the regn of economics ic had sddely

emeged as the focs of all peoccpations

nce he ivine tate hose fom cnstitted an obstace to

he deveomen of capitaism had been dne away ith the

epitaton of t proletarat the forar ma f catal and theaws of the commoity by everyhere ending eings and things to

teir wll became cmbersme realites sscetble neithe o the

ahoy of a dvne providence n to ncorpration into the mt

of a transcedent ode: ealtes whch the rling class if it was not

e orne away by th next evoltionary vealeay incon-esaby foreshaowe by the Enags and Babostswas now olg-

e at al costs to conceal fro the cnsciosness f the prletaat

t of the elics of myth which wee also the reics o od the

bgeoise soght to constrct a new transcenent nity caable of

sng he foce of lsin t dissolve the separations and contradic-

tns hat individals deprived f religion (n he etymological sense

f a coectve bond with od) eperienced thin themselves and


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between ech other In the we of the ortive cults of the Supreme

Being n the Goddess of Reson nonlsm in is mulifrious

gUisesrom Bonprtes Cerism to he gmut of ntionl

socil smcme to the fore s the necessy b incresingly ind-equte delog of the Stte (whether the Ste of privte nd monop

olistc ctlism or the Ste of cpitlism in is socilied form).

Indee the fll o Npoleon mrked the end o ny prospec

of reinstiting unitr myth founded on empire on the prestige of

rms or o the mystiqe of territoril power All the sme there is

one tri ommon to ll the ideologes ht evolved either from the

memory he divine myth or out of the contrdictions of the borgeoisie (lierlim) or y wy of the deformton o r voltionrytheories t is theories thrown up by rel sruggles which eed

bc into those strules nd hsten the dven of clssless

societ by reminin necessrily opposed to ll ideology). Tht

common trit is the sme dissimultion or distortion the sme dep-

recton or mispprehension of he rel movement ht rises from

humn pris.The ricl conciousness cnnot be reconcled with ideoloy

whose onl function i to mystif Wht the cutes eihteenthcen

ury consiousnes perceived for the mos prt n the void left

behind by the ebb ide of dvine consciousness w the suffering

seprion isoltion nd liention. Disenchnmen (in the literl

sense o the end of the spell cst unfng God) tu wen hnd

in hnd with n wreness of conrdctons th hd no chn eing resove or trnscended.

As ll ectors of humn ctivity proceeded o br k prt fromone noher culture just s uch he economc socil or politi

cl pheres ecme sepre relm n utonomou entit And s

the mst r of he conomy grdlly ul up her hegemony overociet s whole rsts wries nd hner were left in posses-

son of e onsciousness of n inependent culurl don which

the mperilism of the economy would e ve low to colonize

They urne ths domin ino cdel of he grutous ut hey

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acted as mercenaries of dominant ideas as fte as they raise the

flag f rebelion or revolution.

Victims of the unhappy cnscusness, desised by thse cn

cerned wth finance, trade and idustr, these ceatos tnded in the

main t tun culture nt a replacent f myt nto a new totali

ty a reconsecrated space stak oppsed t te maerial spees of

cmmercial transaction and pductin Natualy, since the area

tey gverned was no more tan a fragmet, irreducible to econm

ic tems and cut ff from the scial and te poltical, hey could not

aspire to any genuine resusctatio of the uniar myth: all they

culd d as pst it-and in his espect ndeed they were no dif

ferent fom the moe astute minds f the bugeoisie seekig t

build a new myth by resacralizing all tose zes where te ecno

m did not inteene irecly (no attempt wu b made to cnse

crate he Stock Exchange, fo instance, ut te cult of wok was an

attempt to sanctify the facto).

The "spectacle s all tat remains f the myh that perished

an wit unitary sciety: an delgical ogaization whereb he

actions f hist upon indiduals themseles seekin, whether in

their own name or collectively, t act upon stor, are eflected,

corrupted and tansformed int thei ppstento an autonomous

life of the nonlived

We shall understand notng f Rmantcs, nor of Surrealism,

f e ose sight of culture's entanglement wit the organzatin of

te spectacle T begin with, evetig ne thrown up by these

vements bore the stamp f a rejectin f te ourgeoisie, a refusa

f everthing utilitaian or fctal Tere is no artist f te fist

half of the nineteenth cenu whse work was ot grounde n con

tept for bourgeos and comecia values (ich of course in no

a prevented artists from beaing exacty ie bourges and tak

ig money wherever tey culd get itFaubert is a case n pint)

Aestheticism acquired ieolgica fce as the contar of cmmer

cial value, as the thing hic culd make the orld woth ivn in,

ad which thus hel the ke to a paticua stle of ife, a particular

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a o inetig beig ith vale that a diaetricall ooed to

the caitalit reduction o beig to havig. Withi the ectacle it

a cltue' tak to ul vali dtig rol e odel alog thee line

radall a ecooic rationalit creted cltral arket tra-

orig oo ictre or clre ito cooditie the domi-

at or o culture becae ever ore btrct eventually callig

orth anticultura reactio At the e tie the greater te a

o the ecoom an the ore widely i ioed it comodit te the greater a te bourgeoiie eed o date it ectaclar

ideological ree rket a a ay o akig eloi tation that a

ever ore brutaland ever ore brtall coteted b the role-

tariat. Ater the Second World War the collae of the great ide-

ooie and the eanding coner arket ith it bok record

and cul talized gadget brought culure o cetre tage . The over-

t of the ere urival imoed o eole accetuated thi develo-

met b encouragig the to live abractl i ccordance it

model oe uiveral icio doid b tereote ad

image ee cotiall in eed of reewl. Srrealim ould a

the rice here in the coi o a cootio hich it heart i not it

itellect had ala reed

Cltre hoever a ot a oolith. A erate here o

knowledge it ievitab ateted to te lit ht had bee brought

abo it remaied the locu o ril or o koledge that

claied to be abolte i the ne of h old yth hich thogh

irreediabl lot a orever bei T nm;'SS

o creator uderent a correpodig evolio a cultre etab-

lihed a aallel arket o it o (roud 18507) o givig rie toi o retige hich i he ecclar e relaced roit or

reied it and i a eve iterctd wih i.

Creat ho ailed to bur he bble i which he ere u-

all cotent to geerate edl relecio of theelve ried

becomi mere rodcer o clrl coodiie or cioarie

o the ideolgical aethetic ectcle . he o real o deined

b the corn oured o him by he worl d o coerce cold very

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easily be transformed into a earer of false cosciousness. When

reproached b the businessman for not havig his feet on the

round, the artist tended to appeal to te life of te mind. Srrealism

bore the traces of this absurd antaonism betwee ercantile "aterialism on the one hand and Mind (whether in its eactionar or its

revolutionary form) on the other

All the same, the more lcid o sensitive creatos succeeded in

identifin their on condition more or less clel with that f the

proletariat. The result as a tendency that mit be called "adical

aesthetics-exemplified b Neal, Stendhal, Baudelaire, Keats,

Byon, valis, Bchner, Forneret, lake, etcor which the questfor a new nity as expressed thrugh the symolic destrction of

the old world, the ovocative esposal o the ratuitus, and the

rejection of commercial loic and the immediate ncete dimension

which that lgic controlled and defined as the only reality. Hegelwold come to represent the historical cnsciosess of this attitude

Another tendency, extendin "adical aesttics into a "radical

ethics, arose from an awaeness of the separatedess of culture, fromthe consciosness of thinkers and atists, ithet alienated in the

pre impotence of the mind, who now develped ceativity as a

mode of authentic existence welded to the citiue of the commod

ity system and of the survival imposed niveslly b that system.

Marx and Fourier ere this tendency's main voies.

Lastly, there was a third current hich, witot rundin itself

as irmly in history as Ma or Foier, made its basic principle theaolition of cltre as a sepaate sphee throg the realization of art

and philosophy in eeryday life This tradition rs fr Meslier to de

Sade, and thence, via Pets Borel, lderli, Cales LassailIy, Ernest

Coeurderoy, Joseph Djacque and Latramont, t Ravachol and Jules

onnot t is in fact less a tradition than a somewat seendipitous trac

er of theories and practices constittin a kin of idea map of radi

cal refsal. Thouh thron p by istory, and einserting itself intohistor, often in violent fashion, this was a herite with no clea con

sciousness of its power ove tat histor, no efftive knowlede o its


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actual pottial I t years btee ad , oeve as is

toy too its evege upo all its ideological tavsties tese isolat

voices we evealed as eietly haoious calld fot as ty all

e by te pessu fo ua eacipatio

ada odied bot te cosciousess of t cublig of ie

ology a t ill to destoy ideology i te ae of atetic life

But ada i its iilis sougt to costitue a asolta encpuly abstatbea Not oly did it fail to goun itself i t

histoial onditios by ih it ad itself bee poued but by

decosecatig cultue by ockig its clais to b an indepen

sphee by payig gaes ith its fagets it effectivly c itself

off fo a taitio forg by ceatos o i fact sae Daasgoal te srcion of at a philosophy ut o puse tis goal

it t itio of rinvning an ra lizing at ad philosopyonce

tey ad n liquiated as ideological fos as coponts of

ultuein eveyoes actal life

Afte adas failue Srealis fo its pat eeed tis wit te

old tadiio. t did so ove just as toug aa ad ve

Xisted jt as toug Dada's dyaitig of cltue ad eve

occued pologed t yeaig fo tascedece as utued

fo e ae to Jay itout eve ealizig that te tascdece

in uestion ad o bcoe possible t ad and populai te

geat hua aspiatios itou eve discoveig that te peequi

sites fo thi flfilet ee alady pset so doig Sualis

ended up eivigoati te sctal ws nr;! 'a :0"

cal fo t last class i history he poletaiat beae of total fe

do the istory that as yet to be ade. To Suealiss cedit

assuedly i te ceatio of a schoolfoall hich if it did ot ae

volutio at least populaized evolutioary thikes. Te Suealists

ee the fist to ake it ipossible i Face to coflat Max ad

Bolshevis the fist o use Lautaot as gupode te fist to

plat the bac flag of de Sade i the hat of Chistia uais.

These a gitiate clais to glory to this extet at any ate

Suealiss failue as a oouable oe.


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DADA AD CULURE I QESIO

Dada was born at a turningpoint in the hsory of industrial

societies By reucing huan beings to citizens who ill an areilled in the nae of a State that oppresses them the odel ideolo

gies of iperialism and nationalis seed to unerine the guf tat

separated real universal an fro the spectacular iage of a huan

ity perceived as an abstraction; the two were eparably opposed

for exaple fro te standpoint of France or fro the standpoint

of Gerany. Yet at the very oent when speccular orgniation

reache wat to minds enaoured of true freedo appeared to be itsost Ubuesue representational form that orniation was suc

cessfully attracting and enlisting almost all the intellectuas and

artists to be found in the real of culture his tendency arose

oreover in tande with the ove of the proeariats official lead

ership into the ilitarist cap.

Dada denounced the ystificato power of culture in is nir as

early as - On the other hand once Dda ha proved itselfincapable of realizing art and pilosophy (a project whch a successful

Spartacist revolution would no doubt have ae easier) Surrealis

was content erely to conden the spinelessness of the inteligentsia

to point the finger at te chauvinist idiocy of ayone from Maurice

Barrs to avir Montehus who was an intellectal and proud of it.

As culture and its partisans were busily eonstrating how

activey they supported the organization of the spectacle and theystification of social reali Surrealism igored the negativity

ebodied in Dada; being neverteless ard pu to it to institute any

positive project it succeeded ony in settig i otion the old ide

ological echanis whereby today's partia revolt is turned into

tomorrow's official culture. he eventual cooptation of late

Dadais the transforation of its radicalism ito ideological for

would have to await the advent of Pop rt In the matter ofcooptation urrealis its protestations to the contrar notwith

standing was uite sufficient uno itself.


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The ignornce tht Surrelism fostered with r sp c to the to of r nd philosophy is ever bit s pplling s the ignorcDd fostered with respect to the opposite spect of the sme e-

dency nely the tscedece of rt nd philosophy.The things tht Dd unifie so vigorousl inclued

Lutrmont's ismntling of poetic lnguge the conetio of

philosoph in opposing yet identicl ys by egel r

bringing f pinting to its melting point by Impressionism or h treembrcing its own prodic selfdestruction in Ub h pinerillustrtions could there be here thn Ml vich with his hite sureon hie ground or the urinl entitled Ft hich rcDuchmp sent to the ew Yor In p nd nts hibitio i orthe first dist collgepoems mde from wors cippe frmewsppers d then rndomly ssembe Arthur Cr cofle

rtistic civit n shitting. ven Vlr grsped wh Jce

emonstrting ith Fie Wke: the fct th nos cu onger exit. ri Stie supplied the finl iroic cod to the o th

s music. Yet even s Dd ws denouncing cuturl polluio

spectculr rot on eery ide Surrelism ws r dy on the sceeith its big plns for clenup nd regenertion.

hen rtistic production resumed it did so ginst d wihu

d but ginst nd t Surrelism Surre rmim udevite fro reformism's welltrodden pths nd follow its own new

rods Bolhevism rotsyism Guevrism nrchism ust s the

economy in crisis wich did not diser ws


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THE BREAK FROM DDA

Whe excly dd Surrelsm emcpte tself from Dd? he

questo s bdly frmed, becuse t suggests tht the Surrelstswere recostructed Ddss, whch s fr from cert Ideed f we

look closely t the beggs of the erlest propoets of

Surrelsm we fd tht ther works re of persol kd hostle

certly to the domt rdto, but berg sct trce of

Dd's corrosve sprt.

The good reltos mted y he ery Surrelss wth

Perre Reverdy, edor of the lter revew N-d or the poes ofBreto, Bem Pre, ul lurd or hlppe ouput re qtdeque testmoy to the dherece of these voces to cercocepto of litetre Wt e frst Surrelsts kew of d wsbove ll s edulcorted rs verso, the tcs of zr d

few clshes betwee dvduls Wth Grosz, Huelsebeck

Schwtters, Hussmn, ug or eve Pcb they were stll lrgely

uncqued

I 1917 the word surrelst" ppered the subttle to

Apollre's ply Les Mmelles e sis [The Tes of ress 1920 Pul Derme used the term the revew [Esit Ne d 1924 v oll chose t s the ttle of perodcl tht lsted for

oly oe ssue

s erly s 1919, owever, he cocept hd cqured less vgue

cootos I tht yer rgo produced hs frst utomtc texts

I tre des mdums" [Eter the Medums, Breto sought to cr

cumscrbe he oto tsk ht he would pursue further the

frst Mest f relism (94 rom the outst surrelsm" sgfed new quest; the word mmedtely becme the lbel of ew

cuturl produc, clerly reflectg te wll to dstgush tht productuequvocly from ll others he cotrdcto betwee volu

trstc rgour d the clto to comproms tht ws ojectve

ly ecourged by Surrelsm's fresh embrce of ulture cretd per

met pot of stress d led to edless splts the movemet


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he ree Littature, oud d i a o amed b atira u rom e begig it retaied o a e geuiel liter

ar aec; een aearace it reebled a traditioal literar

magaz n ma reec Thi a the tartig oit or the

Surreal i roec o oundng a e a o thi ki g eeling ad l iv

g o creang a ne orld; and here la the eed o the articular

a n ch roec oul be orked out a o the articular

a c i ould al I the regreie cojucture hic ol

loed th rle deea o Sartacu o Dada ad o the reolutio

o the Soe n Ruia cooted b the Bolhevik) te Surreali t

made a ome hch he ket to be the cariciou cocoue

o a ime iou cocoue a llothei i the ight o

atoal Socalm ad aional Bolheim.

he r e ue o ittrature icluded cotributio rom

Valr e oaul argue Blaie Cedrar ule Roai Ma

aco eorge urc a Dariu Milhaud he oug Breto adir Val re Reerd ad SaolRou ad t the lat o thee he

remaned oal h ole lie log et he alo had a aciatio or

rhur Cran ad acque ach rime eemlar o Dada ihilim

auheca led ou I a ene Breto ork ad eve Suralim

el ere h roduct o hee to dierget orietat io

e mlcaio o h double allegiace ar lar rom

reo reark i e Seond Manesto of Surralism (:

I e o he arou eort eculiar to each thoe ho!_s c m k - m or o t o oemut ultimael adi tha ore tha athig eleSurrealim attemted o rooke ro the itellectual admora l o in o e a crisis of consciousness the t geer-al ad erou k d ad that the etet t hich thi a ra o accolihed aloe ca deterie it hiricalucce or ai lure.

he rrctio here to the itellectual d ral it

vie" clear idicate a atach t to culture a a ideedethere h le a crii o cocioue o he ot geeral ad eri

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ous ki nd evokes wha Surrea ism woud inheri, aei superfici a ,

of he ada spiri .

In fac ada precipiaed he purging of tttur i was under

Dadas infuence ha quarres beween lttrturs eamorhosed

ino a genera hosiiy owards he homm d lttrs per seh an

mosiy oards a Max}acob, an Andr ide or aean Cocea cae

o be jusified in erms of conemp for wriing as a rade or craf.

I n 1 9 20 ttrtur' hireenh issue opened he doors wider han

ever efore o he adais i nfuence, puishing wenhree of he

oveens anifesoes Simuaneousy, however, he reak

beween Andr reon and Trisan Tzara was i n he making

reons ineigence and discreion undoedy endowd

Surreais wih a good par of is genius or ada unforunaey, jus

he opposie occurred: aready sorey acking for revouiona he

riss, i os much of i s rich poenia when i came under he hub

of Tzara, he povery of whose ideas and he anali of whose imag

inaion were ony rivaed y his us f or recogniion, for ceebriy.

Tzara possessed nohing of he criica sense and cearindd

combaiveness needed o in cie ariss o despair of ar, grasp ho d f

everyday ife and ransfor hemseves ino he sujec of a coec

ie work of revouion And he sai d ariss, inecisive and a

om more suscepie o he empaion of an risic career han

hey cared o acknowedge, quicky discovered ha repeaing he

fami ia r j apes o f adas ani ar show, wi h Tzara as choregrap h

er and sar, offered a convenien wa of surrepiiusy resumng c

ura aciviy wiho formay renounc ing he Dadais conemp for

ar he merey had o p reend o be ieve ha ha conemp app ied

so ey o he dominan forms of ieraure, houh or ar. In a sense ,

Surreaism isef r sid d in hese shorcomings of adatttur suey ased on he quesion hy do yo wrie

was no so radica as one migh jusifiaby have suppose a firs

gance. True, i ceary exposed he genera vuari of inen and

ack of im aginaion of h e makers of noves, he asini ni y of versi firs

and academic hinkers, ye a he same ime i id he grondwrk

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r sovry" prur jusats fr a ar wr-

g lg r pg a aurze a w rm eprss

l as g aut a ttal Su rm o epress alray s prmetlly As Brt

ralls Etti [Cvrsas ( 1 952] I 1 9 1 9 I ga pyg

a tos mr r less mplt stes w o

s rly al s slp am ul me prpl

m wt bg possl f ay presg res fr em"

pratl rsuls apare a j work y Br a

Supaul h gtic Filds ( 1 920 suppsely wrtt r er tas usus k rs lar

prml slpg" y mas o w Rrt Dss Bjam

r a R Crv sug press mselvs w ymea y t ss m

By t m r k ver as tr o a srs

itttu r 1 92 2 valy rjt Daas

lrary rga (G Valry C alray a alar aga t rm a positiv prjt

e og brak Daa as aste 1 92 1 y a pul

vt rgze y Arag a Br m a ral

ur rrs" Barrs as a ltrary aars f ult t g"

vry w sag prss aoalsm l s H was

sr e pr syml a sle tellets at w

prats t pery uglall tus ter egatv ampl

tral was l 1 3 ay. T as was rprs y

a arval ak Brt prse Geres RemtDessags

tok t rol pul roseutor a Suaut a Arag w

a vry a pror raso t ke Barrs were s efeers.

No frt was spare te attempt t esure tat te evet

wul prvok legal a a spark a orotato uray Das stusess te eyes rvoutary grups Srt

o su a utm e tere was o ope savg aa

Beja r ws tre lfe was forme a uwaver

g rasg raalsm teste to reat eft at t Barrs


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trial eaig i Gea ad laig The Uo Soldier" All

the itee oreover aed eloqet o the ecremetial

characte o vetera o Barr ad o everthig hav ig to o ith

the atio ad it trait ictor Cratre i right hoever he heiit i h i boo e Dame u sualisme The Traged o Srreali]

that the Barr trial a a ailre

The abece o a reactio rom the righ coled iththe i lece o the evoltioar artie meat that the trialhad ailed. Thi ailre a echoed b a regreio to ae-

thetic i i the hae o the Salo Dada tha oeed at theGalerie Motaige o the 6th o e ad i t ediocretrih thi coectio Breto roe I ee to ethat the oorhi o a erie o tterl tile Dada' actioi o the o i t o ver eriol coroiig a derta-ig to hich eai attached" Thi attachet oldoblige Breto to tr ad ave Dada rom the terili thata o threate i g it He decided to coee a coge

i oder to clear atter : the ari Cogre or theOrietatio ad Deece o the Moder Sirit" . Thi a aabit io oject a iig a it did to get oer ad art bacoto irer grod tha the hitig ad i hich thehad bee caght. Ad it did ot cceed. Witer ad aritho had ade all retatio or themelve i adthrogh Dada a little reao to thro eerthig aaor the ae o a vetre hich eemed to the to hae o

tre or the had othig bt itrt or the iri" ihoe ae the Cogre a beig called.

Ater thi ebac Beto ad hi ried caled do theirabitio beig iclied to elore the deth hile ca-i g their et le idel. The reed all a lliace d och redced ber the gro ithde ito itel.

t i otable that icabia the mot coitet ihilit o theDadait gro let hi ort to the rojecte Cogre B co-

trat Tzara ooed the idea cla imig that ch a roject a ee -

tiall cotctive herea Dada a b deiiio re egation!


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THE SPECIFICY OF SURRALISM

The brea wth Dada became uttery fnal n 1923 when, at per-formance of T zaras Cu ga [The Gas Heart], the author caedthe polce and soght to have Euar, Breton and Pret thrown outas trobemaers.

Arond a har core made p ntaly o Breton, Aragon andSopault there now revoved an oten dsparate grop of personates, among them Eua, Pret, Robert Desnos, Roge Vtrac, Mx

Morse, Georges mbour, Joseph Delte, Jacqes Baron, Renreve, an Ray, Marce Dchamp, and Max rnst 1924 and 1925wee to e the pvota years o urreasm nt then, the mvementwas detachng tsef from a Dadast sprt whch t had awaysespoused ony wth retcence ateards, the Surreasts began tosee agreement wth ommunsts of one knd or another, from thesomewhat margna ennsts o to the hardlne Stansts o the

French ommunst PartyThs rfu perod saw the concepton nd pbaton oBretons ast f Sua ism the appearane o a revew, a RvutiSuaist and the creaton o a "Bureau fr Srreast Researh Therreasts nterest n reams and automatc wrtng, the attentonty pa to Fred, ther nventon of gams, the tn o thediv and of chance encounters, and ther experments wth sprta

sml these together consttuted a nfed set of preoccptons

the frst ssue of a Ruti Sua ist proamed the need fr "a newdecrton o the rghts o man

The grop ws soon jned by Andr Msson, Maths Lbek,Gerges ne, Perre Nalle, Rymond Queneau, AntoninArtaud, acqes Prvert, Mare Dhamel and Perre Brasser, whle

n Ygosav Surreast movement emerged whose prme moverws Mro RstthAt ths te, too, Srrealsm create pqant geneaogy fr

tself hch ncded gres whose work red ot fr detl


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supersession on he pane of rea ife (de Sade, ramon, ourier,

Marx, ec , grea dreamers (Nerva, Novais, Ahim von Arnim,

achemiss (Paracesus, asi Vaenine, moe of impasioned,

eccenric and fanasic foreears, poes of bak humour, and so

onin shor, a hoe pan heon ha was onin eing dded o

(nd occasiona reduced, as in he case of Poe, ho as indced

a firs, on o e expe ed susequen on aon of hi s conriu

ion o he science o f poice ork Mo imporan of a , he group

appropriaed he adais echnique of scanda-mking and rned i effecive agains he represenaives of official cuure Two scan

das i n aricar ma e sai d o have horough haken up he con

veniona isdom of he ime These were he puicaion of he

pamphe A os haiing he uria of Anaoe rance, nd heevens surrounding he S ain Po Roux nque. Anaoe Frnc , sreon expains in rs

was he proope of everhing we he in conemp Inour ees, if ever here as an undeserve repuaion, ias his The supposed ransparenc of his se ef uscod, and his much vauned scepicism we foun repugnan I as he ho had said ha Rimaud onneVoee s Voes defies commo n sense, even i f is verses ere amusi ng" On he hman eve, we fond hi s ai ude as si ni ser and despicae as coud be he ha d don e

whaever one had o do o garner he sppor of Righand ef aike He as so puffed up wih his honours andhis on sef imporance ha we fe no compncionwhasoever

This indag has s ince een so horoughl defaed hi is hard oda o imagine he rage ha hose four pages,conaini ng exs Aragon , eei rie l Rochee andme, ere capae of uneashing According o Camie

Maucair, Aragon and I ere nohing u rving manics,and he added ha hese are he manners no of upsarsand rffians u of j ackas . " Ohers en urher, cingfor ega sancions agains us

17


27/142

In uly 925 a banquet in honour o SaintPolRoux, who was

an idol to Breton and severl other Surrealists, oered the erfect

oortunity to get rid o the literry trash once and or all. Therench mbassador, Pul C au del , had declared to an I ta ian news-aer tt Surrealism, just like Ddism, had "one meaning onlyaederastic one. he Surrealists' riposte came in the form of an

"Oen eter rinted on sng--bJ paper nd sliped under eaclte at te Closerie des Lilas, where the banquet took place

Breton's mused account o wht ensued is well known:

By te time a rather sad "hake in white sauce was beingserved, a number o us were standing on the tables. Thingsfell comletely aart when three o the guests went off andcame back soon aterwards with te police in tow But, shumour would hve it, it ws Mme Rchilde, by this time t hig itc of gitation, who in the general chaos nd d ugetting arrested

On tis occasion, too Michel Leiris ws nearly lynced for

shouting editious slogans rom the restaurant window at a assing

veterans' arde "ong live Germany! Long live China ong live

bdeKrim!

daim was sill a lvel strand in the urreaism o

this period. or instnce, the cover of te irst number of L Roluon

Srrlist showed a hotograph o the anarchist Germaine Bertonu 0 .gsl \x; U. u [ r was more rovocatonhere than commitment, or neiher Bonnot nor Ravachol were mem

bers o te Surrealist pantheon; what is worse, Mcislas Carrier

would be guillotined by Poincar without so much as a peep out ofBreton and his riends. A ll the same, it ws the erment o revolt that

they kept on the boil, and the preciion wih which they continued

to denoune te permanen outrgeousness o the prevai ing organi -zation o society (a precision sti l l very much i n evidence i n th e inter-

vention in avour o Violette ozires) tht would prevent the best

Surreali ss rom reducing their dream o global r voltion, no matter

18


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how conused it was to th mdiocre levl o lshevism It ashese together with the clt o the passions an spcialy o lvtha saved th movment rom any otright cmpromise ith

inamy (Srreaisms passing alliance with Trotsy the btcr oKronstadt in 1921 ay b pt down to ignoranc)


29/142

N SOW OF OMMNIST PAR

Beginning in 1924 and 1925 the feeling gadually ame to pevail inthe movment that its aestheti itique needed politica einfoe-ment Metings wee held beteen the ueaists and membes ofCat among them Vito Caste Macel Fouie and ean BenieThis was a goup of avantgade inteletuas on the left o theCommuist aty who opposed the onfomim of eni Babussethen liteay edito of the Paty newspape 'mait

The wee many uealists who felt that enuing the sp-pot o at any ate the benevolene of the aty was a moe dei-sive way of beaing with the ittatus than meely playing thebabaians hammeing at the gates of ultue a poy whih i anyase an the is that one day those gates wold ive way allowingthe babaians to pith thei tents within the itade and thus beoopted Fo those who felt this way and fo a few othe too the

image of the Bolshevik with a nife between his teeth muchexploited by the Right ontinued to be vey sedutive What theydid not now was that the feshest blood on that nife feshethan that of the Whites was that of the Mahnovists and the leftopposition and that befoe long it would be put to wo settlinga of talin's vendetta

Only Ataud eve sensitive to the meest hint of oppession now

distaned himself in lea awaeness of what was at stae As hi: ' .- L v moe an moealoof and eventually withdew altogethe oupalt Vita Baonand a few othes opted staightfowadly fo iteay caees at thispoint; they thus made thei exits by the opposite doo to Ataud duyeeiving Beton's faewel in the Secd Mast as thy depated

In 19 it was esolved that a new peiodia entited a Gue

Civi woud be launhed in onjuntion with Cat That this planame to naght bespeaks the fat that it was now too late fo twoatonoous sphees that of a speialied politis and that of a spe-ialied eanimated at to fuse into one


30/142

Suelist tiity nnetlss ne e ed seigts Te spiit te mment s sping intntinll InBelgium Ren gitte Pul ug n Luis Sutnie un

Suelist gup se inentinss style n ilene ul it e lng wy eem lt nit lls int smi umu puntt y Stlinist pessins it

The gme f xquisite Cpse in wi pem pitue is ete lletiel y ples un exet te ist mnt t te tes wite ws sssul eil itinese emsis n lngge t spiit Ddist llge t

ntin pety me ll te ie jetie ne Tispstime spplie Suelism it ne its est n mst intestingys stisying its ppnsi plylnss

In 1927 An Btn jine t Cmmunist Pt Assign tte gswkes' ell e set t wit isming willingnss t isit ut e ws exspet te Cmmnists' uuti tenenies wi te time eing we nt s muh siniste s iic-lus) n e lng let t Pt militnts t tei illusins

On t Atu si tings mnl thg itt niet input m At tnen emge in Sulism iwul eme pepnent te te Sen ld Te ie tis teneny s Ren Duml n RgeGilet Lmt's i LeGad leu, se ist issue ppee in 1928 Te ssiility n

egene eteen ts gup nd Betn's ws exl ut

impssile Dml n emte litte tste t kind f isipine Betn impse tm ty etin ntmt plitis tis t tim en te minstem Suelists ee stileming plitiie n ne tey ee epe n tsguns i s ten t wl espn y wning f t nge Suelism's pttin Te t gps d mmn itestin unin ut neite si elt pssintl ngh ut its nssit

f it t m ut n s sn s ptxt psnt itsel the enttei septe ys Tt petext s n pgi te Pet Plie Cippe itten nespp y Rger illn mm


31/142

u grup ul uk Vll r

s ks rms B r s usm lag

s a vl ri ilg s k

(Susquly ual mv lsr lsr Gurj

ps s mu s 1 93 3 rk m

Scod sto, publ is i 1 930 g

rl sg us Amg s pl l r qus Br

Grgs mur Ar ss Rgr Vra ss rvr

Rym Quu I as Arau v wvr m

uer k Amly a rug ama up msl ylg pl s rs y r srp pr

m Al r rry r y zr r ll p

Br lr u pl 1 92 3 Br s

rl m

urg s p Surrls grup s rr y

rrvl Lus Buu Slvr l R Cr I rgu

mvm s rg ig ks Vzlv Nzvl r

Syrsky rl g y I 1 92 9 qus Rgu lk

Crv V gr livig plr Ds lsm

kl s

sl r psyrss g up rms vr

lls murr i B N j1 , r ree m prslly A pril Surrlsm u Srvcd l evolution [Surrlsm Srvi Revu] su ppr re hG Sg-gs mrk rr as cpr rlr

Revolution Surrlst I Surrals s r a rvlui s ly pssl mr s Cuis ry a

pry mi a revluriess surlysal pply w prl l

s l Cvl sumrizig h sa ply r ssu s

l r:

Surrlsm a sl u mvm s rrspa x cthdr u gs s gs src kw


32/142

edge of knowledge appl o he Reoluo (a a poetcroue) Lauraon had sad: poery us e ade y ll,no y one luard's comen n hs: poer wll purf all

men. l ory owers wll e demolsed

nd Creel adds Sarn ou fro Heel, lke Marx an

ges ut followng a dfferen pah Surreasm ends up a dalec

cal aerals" Truh o ell Hegel was dscoered ery elae

y he Surrealss and een more mporan he ade arel an

ctcl use of mno een as a ool for dscnang eween

he dalecc and e hnkng of a Maurce Torez. Ther ase forfe ade a uch greaer coruon, an the es of Surreals

thought unquesonay arse from her anayses of led moens

whch reealed the dalecc far eer han quoaons from ege

and creaed poery far more effecely han any poe

In response o Breon's dares n e ecod Mesto heexcudees ssued a oen pamphle whch mula he one andorrowed he le of he compendum of nsus earler dece anoe France U Cde [A Corpse] The Ba Madoror"a premure aep a coercal cooptaonws sacked y reon

and hs frends Buue's fl e do roused he re of w eeransad of e Rg One parcularly fne expresson of ange an open

leter o he op suen applcan of he year aded to he San

Cy Mlar cademy, exposed eorges Sadoul, one of he sga

tores o a reeyear prson erm nd a crc L Lbet called forPre o e sot for hag wren he poem e de 'assassn Foch

Lfe of he Murderer Foc] whch deal wh ts sujec n oes of

uparaeed execraon

t s e oo, Maurce Hene pulsh d hs adrale prefaceo de Sade's Jste Hene exered a much greer nfluece on heSueals oemen han hs naural dscreton and h of hs

frends mg lead oe o suppose.In 1931 Surreals's allance wh he Comuns Pry ook a

man urn. The group sned up wh he ssocaon of

Reoluonary Wrers and rss whch ws conroled h

3


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Prt it erh b o contereight tht t thi e

tie rerch into gicl" ork in teni ied rred on b the rev

el tion o Alberto icoetti' object ith boli c nct ion"? At

ll event the l ink beten lche nd cretive th to ne nd

cronct relt ionhi ver ch in the oreront o Srrel it

edittion even the Argon ir" bbbling

Thi ir begn hen Breton nd hi riend thogh rov

ing o neither it irit nor it or neverthele took the deence

o Argon' long oe Front roge" Red Front ritten dring

viit to the USSR The ebrrent Breton eerinced t th

hving t tnd behind Argon ho tet lred contined the

eed o the en to the therlnd tht ere to ollo i qite tn-

gible in hi Mis d la posi The Povert o Poetr

In the entie Argon ending ver otiitic reort

bck ro Moco concerning the roect o the Srrelit rech-

ing greent ith the Conit Sdol Argon' trvelling

conion in Ri retrned to Pri hed o Argon hiel ho

toed o in Bel or e d Here i Breton' ccont in

Enins o the convertion he hd ith Sdol on the ltter' retrn

e verthing hd gone ell; e the objective e hddecidd to et orelve hd been et bt There ndeed ver lrge bt An hor or to beore their der-tre the hd been ked o ign declrtion tht ilied

the bndonent not to the el ici t rejection o rc- ev PC5O ;C lp U e ereeected to renonce the Sond Manso inch"Iqote ord or ord it i contrr to dilecticl teri-li". The ere oed to denonce Fredini nideli ideolo" nd Trotki ocildeocrticnd conterrevoltionr ideolog" Finll the oldndertke to bit their literr ctivit to the diciline

nd control o the Coni rt" And o?" I kedSdol brqel And getting no rel I tke it oreued?" No he relied Argon e t tht etht io ell old hve to go long i e nted to

24


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wor n te arts utura orgnzaton" at was tefrst te n fe tat I saw a asm openn up efore ver ees, a as tat as sne wene zzngy,

proporton to te reentess eaway ae te outrageous ea tat trut sou ow own eore effat,tat neter onsene nor nvua personat are orteengn sort, tat te en justfes te eans

In 93 Aragon rae to te Comunst art Te sae ear

saw te puaton of Bretons Commc Vessels an one of enCreves fnest tets, Le Clvec de Ddeo Derots Harpsor]

THE BEAK WI H THE SOCALLED COIST A

Breton was saene y Aragons ak of spne; s frens, outage,

reated aordng to te traton Severa of the proue tets

amastng te autor of e ront" uar, notal, not es-

tate to wrte:

Wat was nonssten as eome aulaton; wat wassutety as eoe ntrgue Aragon as eoe ot r,an s eory eneforar annot attah tsef to e oefen sef I ave a sentene w etween an e

an no onger ave te eange vaue I so long aor t, a sentene w as never ost ts eanng an efetve passes jugeent on Aragon as on so an oters: Allhe e n he se cold o sh y snle ellecl b loodsa(Lautraont)

Ts turne out, owever, to e a ase of te ot an te et

te a A few years later, uar, an n an t Aragon, wou

e a fasonae fgure n te Stanst star syste, ever rea to

a tat te wors part, fateran an freeo rme to per

feton An n 1950 wen Breton pore to ntervene on

5


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beha f of a od muua fe d of hes, Zavs Ka ada, codemed

o deah aue, uad (huh he foo o quoe hs favoie

seece had his o say "1 am oo busy wh ioces pocamhe inocece o bohe wh peope who ae gUy pocaim

he gu Kaada was execued

I 3 3 he Assocao of Revouonay Wes ad Ass

aonced is fs expuso Ad e. As Beo ecaed ae

i Entreties:

The easo fo hs expusio was ha Numbe 5 of LeSurralisme au Seice de la Rvolutio conaied a e e addessedo me by ediad Aqu, a ee we n a beaaspi deed a mos movig ee, whch he wie ookvioe excepo o he civic and moa oe ifom heRussia fm e Road to Le. Regadess of he opiosAqu expessed, o a of whch I aeed wih, he esy of fe a evo dsed o hs ee seemed o c ou

fo s pubicao. Thee was heee n chace a a ofmy u he eaco ha was be ing dema ded of me.The foowi yea a Sueas up appeaed Eyp, wh

eoes ei as s pme move I usses, Documents pub

ished peca ssue o Sueas Ieveio which cued a

umbe of cobuos emakabe fo hei voece ad ucom

pomng aude 9 4 was above a he yea f he Sueass'O a \tte Z; L g pace, wo abee condemed o deah, he Suea iss saued a symbo o f acve

essance o oppesson by he fam I is had, hough, o expa i

he faue of he goup o ase a simia cy in suppo of he Papi

sises, sevas who aoud he same ime iusaed Swf's

Directions to Seats afe hei own fasho by mudei hei ms

ess ad he dauhe I is e ha by his ime poica evenswee fas aheg momenum

Reaos bewee he Sueaiss and he mmus Pay

eadeshi p ew eve moe hose An i nc iden i n 1 9 3 5 was o bg

6


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hese elaions o an end once and for all A en ocloc one

nigh, shol efoe he opening of he ongress of Wriers fo e

D f nc of lre, a Salinisn even, Bon ran ino IlaEhenrg on he Bolevard Monparnasse ne again we ael on Breon's accon in Enreens:

There was a passage I was no ead o forge in a oo ofEheng's, Vs par n cvan e /'R.SS [servaions ofa Sovie Wie], which ha appeae a few onhs ealerAong his emas herein were he flowing The

Sealiss are all fo Hegel, all fo Ma, all fo heRevolion ha he are asolel agais, howeve, iswo o ha he do no have hei occpaions Thesd pedeast and deams, for exaple he eepheselves s consing heir inheriances anddowries " And so on So, afer idenifying self, Islapped hi seveal ies, while he ied paheicall opalave wih e wiho so ch as raising his hand o po

ec his face I fail o see wha ohe evene I cold haveaen on his onfimed slandere

n he eve of he Congess, afer exhasin discssions wih he

oganizes over heir refsal o le Beon adess he gaheing, Ren

revel oo his own life This gese, js lie Aas solipsis, on

sies an iediae, sponaneos, negaie esponse o he proleha Sealis ha poseda false prole, in fac, ecase is asicasspions were false or how was i conceial, on he asis of

independen secor alread ojecivel sripp of all han vales

he depredaions of he specaclarcoit sse, on he

asis of aciviies whic, hogh in fac parial, wee prooed as

oaliies (as a, poliics, hogh, he nconscis, srvival, ec) and

pesened as posiivehow was i conceivale ha on sch ases an

ni of he individal, eihe wihin hiself or with respec o oes,igh e achieved? How cold Sealis, whil ignoing he adais

qes fo oal negaivi, expec o povie any hisorical fondaion

fo he posiivi and gloal anscendence o whih i aspied?

7


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The Srealists denoncd th Moscow tials Thy movd

closer t Geores ataill , whos ContAttaqu movment

dind itsel as "a combat goup of volutionary intllctuals

opposd o ascism. In Tokyo a Sulist viw was statd byYama aa n London Rola nd Pn os mount a majo exhibitio n

nai Pret published Je e mge de ce l ['d RathrStarv Jotr enuin ly seachi n for aquat patical epres-

sion wit its all or the liquidation of army, polic, piests, bsss,

ony, r and all other focs of butalization Prt, who had

th core of his cnvictions, nlistd with th anachists in the

Spa nis h Revoltion He was the o nl y urali st to patici pate dirct

ly in that trle all the others sppotd th caus nhusiastical ly,

t ro aar

Pictrial concerns, hich smd to com back to th fo ate

the ra ith the Communist Pty, di not ovid th Suralists'

ontini emrae o a lesseevil approach to politics, and bfor

ln the alied to Trotsky and th Fo h Intnational on a visitt in rtn published th maniesto "For an

Indepne Revoltionary At in collaboration with Dio Rivraand th athor o e me f tl

Dal's mbecilic ames had finally palld, and h was xplld

rom the ro in . H wa th omp ltly r to develo a

"techniqe, lendin obscuantism with t smptoms of mn

tia prcx, hich to this day continus to povi fertile soil for

te avantadists o the adv w fp :gr; -

matic nicname o "Avida Dollas, u by Bton to castiat him,

Da l at l east had the merit , in hi s samlss pusuit of mony, c on

tracts d hnors, of on ly tati g a t wok as commoditi s

somtin whih th Ernsts, th Mi th Picassos and all th

other S reali st artists, whth ty w talt o no t, d on ly

shamfcedly

Bto now mad p with bot Atu n Pvt Nothig,

rally, shld ever have inc tm to pat company Pvt n

Pr t we c om th sam clo th, n in Bton , albt stictly co n


38/142

trolled there ws good del of Artud These for w

ing r on Surreis s ideoloy on the growi ootion

oveet Unfortuntely Surrelis hd been idoogy i

rofoundest sense fro the begining it ws ls oo b

r of the ge of od nd new in the culturl shrnd

hve voided his destiny only if sy the Snish Revoutio

triuphed over both the Stlinists nd the fscists d hnce de

ossible trnsfortion of Surrelism ito revoutiory hr

Unre of this or refusing to ccet it Artu rto Pr

Prvert fought to the glorious strins of wht soue vr h

like song of defe The ere the lst formi of our d

hving nothing or o lose they never surrener

n the other hnd Slvdor l doted Surrlism t it

ost idologicl o fullie (d llsce) bsis ese

fscis Ctholicis or Frco jus s Ar h es

Stlinis. lurd took the sme rod s Argon A Brton rll

in Enrins

When I ert i Mexico City tht oems f lur just prd in Commn which s the mi of Mison e l Culture" I nturlly hstene to ifor hibout th uskbe ethods those peole hd usginst e nor did I doubt for secon tt h oieditely diste hiself fro the But I hd o re

fro

lur nd uo y return I s stupefi to er hicli tht colbortio of this kind i no y ilied rticulr coiten o his rt d ied tht in thlst few onths he hd contributed just s willil Commn to vrius fsist ublictions (thes re hi wornot ine) in erny nd Itly. I confined ysf to tobsetion tht this ttitude of his ounte to rjecioof ny kid of greeent tht we hd ever rehed betwe

us n de ny furher eeting poinless

In the deths of Pul Klee Murice ine d SiPo

Rouxthree nonSurrelits who nevertheless let e imrio

2


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e emei a ay arked the end o Surrealim' great

eri. e it i rue uld till have uc to ay a uld re

bu rm o hee to ould be virtually alone a the tre t

ee hi g gig I the umer o 194 1 Breto di mbark d i NeYr be ied by Ernt ad Maon. ret ce Meic

he ly Surrealim knn in the United State a e ia

" ei ith el rm Marcel Ducam Bret crie

due a eie VV in hich h e ubl ihe rolegmea a

ir Sureali Maiet or Not" 1942

OSWR YARS

er Surrealim began irig it lat alve It lied o ith

u ah ieig learer dei ition he movemet tured it attentio

i a more eermied manner toard yticim ad alcemy ile

i litil euion betrayed groing conuin and aidity. In

96 he amle Lbert est un mo t vetnam en iberty I a ietnamee

Wrd] teted againt rench rereion in Indochina Inaugul

Break 1 a a denunciation o Stali ni tough in 1956 te

Surreali uld ere the hoe tat he huhce eh

at he etiet Cngre o the Soviet Couni arty a ne

br uld be alied to the arty aarat N oner had theydieed i ciderate advice wv ; ' G

elve biged t hail te Hungaria riig in Honge solel levant

Hugary e Sun Rie]

I 196 Surrealit ere te initiator o the Declaratio n the

Rigt cieniu Objection in the Algerian ar"the -

al led Dlarati o te 12 1" iht year later hateer reidue

il l ent the he ae Surrealit" a inging te raie o Cuba!

lg he ay the Surreal it orked ith the anarchit o e

Lbertare ad r a tie orted Garry Davi' Citize the

World oemet.

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Before the war the review Minotaure had been the last rea elt

ing pot of Surrealist ideas ts successors in the postwar worl Non

( 1948 49 ) Mdium ( 1 9 5 3 55 ) Le Surralisme, me 1956 59) Brche

( 1 9 6 1 6 5 ) Bi ( 1958 60) and Archibrs ( 19676) bear increasinglbrutal witness to the deca of the ovement.

mportant Surrealist works did appear in te postwar ears;

unfortunatel they were overshadowed b the fashionable ut dis

mal elucubrations of the likes of Sartre Camus or SaintEupry

These works included Breton's Anthologie de l 'humo noi [Anthoog of

Black Huour J, banned b the Vich government in 1 9 1 and barel noticed in 1945; Le Dshonneur des potes ( 19 ) in which Prethauled Aragon luard and the other patriotpets over the coals;

Breton's rcanum ( 1 95 ) a lyrical editation on sensibiit loveand poetr his ver beautiful Ode to Carles Foier ( 1947) and hisFlagnt Deit Caught RedHanded] which eposed a fraudulent

attribution of poems to Ribaud condemne te ibecility of liter

ar critics in general and heaped scorn on Marice adeau author

of a Histo oj Surrealism Pret's Anthologie de laou sublime with itsextraordinar profusion of linguistic fireworks; the novels of Juien

Grac and Maurice Fourr; Malcolm de Chaza's Sens plasiq; and

Jean Markale and Lancelot Lengel's studies on eltic art

Apart fro such personal works however Surrealism now dis

plaed a great tolerance for rehashes for mere imitation of the asters

for so epressions of utual admiration Many urrealists made their

peace with the incohrence of the dominant sstem Others fell silent

Yet others folloed the example of Crevel and comitted suicide-indeed the decline of Surrealis the last movement to have held a

genuine belief in the purit of art is peppered ith suicies amongthe those of the painter Arshile ork ( 1948) the painter OscarDongez ( 1957) the poet JeanPierre Dupre ( 1959) the painterofgang Paalen ( 1959) as well as that of Karel eige who kiled hisef in Prage as the police were coming to arrest hi

A paphet published on 7 June 1947 the RevolutonarSurrealists a dissident Belgian group ad issued a sautar arning

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t the eent as a he Signe by Pau Burginie, Achie

Che, hristian trent, Marce arenne, Ren Magritte,

Mre arin, Pau Nug and uis Scutenaire, it ecare

Ldrds, rks, ruis, seurs, a yur effrts haebeen in ain e persist in reying n URRAISM in uruest t bring the unierse an desire INTO AG-M First an frest, e guarantee that Surrealisi n nger see as a standar fr the aingrius, nras springbar fr the eius, nr as a ehic race iti n nger be the hishers stne f the distracted,the battegrund f the tiid, the pastie f the azy, theinteectuais f the iptent, the draft f bl f theet" r the raft f ine f the lir

But, as thugh t give the tre easure f their prtest, an cer-

tainy exepifing the grtesuerie hich ud thencefar dg

Sueais in its dtage, the afresaid signatries ecared ithut fur

ther ad that they ace their entire faith in the Cunist Party!

3 2


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CHAPTER 2

C H A N G I N G L I F E


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THE RUL URVIVL

t is significant tat t fit Manesto f Surrealim stat ut by

enouncing tat mo of xitnc wic to istinguis it fo pasionat an multiimnional le, ha bn call suival"

o stong i t blif in lif in wat i most fagil in lifeeal lif mantat in th n ti blif is lot Man thatinvtat am aily mo icontnt wit is lot hatouble assing te obct h has bn l to us objt

that i noncalanc a bugt i way tat he haean toug i own ffot almot alway tough hiwn ffot fo a age to wok at leat e as notefu to ty hi luck (o what call is uck). At thipoint fls extmly moet know wat women hea a wat illy affais e ha bn invlv in; he iunimp by i walth o povety in tis espect e is anwbon babe an a fo the appoval of is concince

conf tat o v nicly witout it

only ting abnt fom Beton' tablau f intolabe mi-

ocity i ito No oubt t notalgia fo t ctau ife" wic

away aunt t ualit am contain an implicit efeence to

th gat myt of t unitay ocity of ol we t iniviual ta-

jcty of vn t umblt of n wa inxticably boun up with

te cosmic in a mas of fictional aliti an al fictions an atmophe in wic v vt wa a sign an ve wo o gte mag

icay pake off mytious cunts of mntal lcticit e col

lapse of ti myt an it ubqunt cooptatin a pctacl by te

bougoii w nv uccfy analy by ualism n th n

te uealit movnt n i o tan cho t kin f fuiou

fotstamping wc fom Romantici to aa ha ben t ol

espon of atit twat by t mobiliing cbination (uppliuty of t commoi ytm) of a lifl oul an a slls lif

Romantic bllion fo y to Kal an an Pie

Fanoi acnai a givn way to t aggesiv aestheticim of

35


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Villies de l'sleAdam and the plune into Symbolism into the man-

nerism o the theatrical transposition of decadence and ea h. Theblo ody comic opera of the Geat War was to len d real cont ent to the

macabe imain i ns o a Rol li nat or a Huysmans as li ewise to osebaroque dcors which paradoxically expressed a taste for reatreinement ationalism tus contrived to crown the sorry estivities

o the in de sicle with the apotheosis o a reat east of the dead

A ew million copses qicly evived the taste o lie And when

the pol etariat ei scovered its voice and the voice o history in the

shape o f te call for soviets and the S partacus movement the reat-

est hopes were justified reardin the prospects for a adically dierent l i fe or the creation of the only conditions c apable o uner-pinnin sh a lie the abolition o the commodity system and o

boureoisChristian civili zation

Dada had not been mistaen about this thouh some Dadaists

ered less than others eton was liewise correct in 1922 in the

ith issue o Lttte when e wrote: In airness to Dada it must be

acnowleded that had its strenth not ai led it it would ave want-ed no thin better than to destroy everythin f to to bottom " Yet ineneral the Surrealists rasped eve n le ss clearly than t he Dadaists to

what deree and in what sense the sailors of Kiel the Spartacist

wores or the members o the ist Russian councils were puttn

n to practie the sa me poject th at they themselves nurtured

Once revolution had been cushed rom B erli n to Kronstadt via

La Courtine and the plains o the Uraine Dada alone continu eman unaasey i conusedly the lobal destruction of artphilosophy and culture as separate spheres and their eazato in hecontext o a unitary social lie The uilty conscience o Surrealist

eormism is testimony to this loba revolutionary project which

the movement rejected only with reat reluctance and indeed con-tinued to embrace in a repressed fom

Thus reton was quite able to proclaim in Numbe o LaRouto aste that hee is no such tin as a wor of art thatcan withstand our o al primitivism and Aaon could evoe thepaltry political activity that has occured to the East o us over the

3


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lt few er houh both thee remrk re ccurte enogh the

frt bepek omeone who tll lckn n concoune the ec

ond omeone who lred n mbecle he equel w to demon

trte n n eent tht thee were merel word wthout prctclconequence he Dd prt outled telf n empt erbl form;

Srrelm urrepttoul endowed tht form wth nother content

All the me the melnchol of eerd lfe w the trrup

tht enbled Surrelm to tke t wld rde throuh the world of

drem ontrr to the pronotcton of not few Stlnt

thnker the moement w not detned to ee mpl trm

polne for ecapm nd mtcm On the contrr t becme thtfocu of depr whence ll new hope dere een f the rod tken

w the culturl one.

Arthur rn nd cque Vch two gret wtnee to mal de

vvre were oon to de he frt put out to e one torm eenn

on the Gulf of Mexco; the econd who hd wrtten from the front

tht t w treome to de o oun klled hmelf n Nnte no

ooner thn the Wr w oer Soon fter there would be cqueRut nd mond Roue! nd mon te Surrelt Ren

ree\ Lke Artud ree! hd been trck b the predomnnce of

nonlfe n the totlt of humn ffr nd t w he who n text

on Pul Klee oced entment tht the Surrelt would he

done well to purue further: e cre nether for the prgu of the

poor nor for the leek of the rch

Dd held up a mrror to ul n abence of rel lfe nd drectl pprehended relt th mkn t hme more hmefl;

cde conttute condemnton b w of the nete of ur

l loc of deth.

Ben n deolo Surrelm w trctl ttc on whoe

mpreon upon hto could neer urp the weht whch h

to telf ccorded t ( dtnct from reolutonr theor whch

trt out from htor then return to hto nd moe t forwrd) ;for Surrelm ul ucde nd deth were the trtn pont

wch lfe w uppoed to nete but whch t could not trnform

wthout frt chen tte of bolute deton h w the


47/142

meaphal onndrm from whih the rrealis ere ring o

esape wen hey isaenly pinned her hopes on Bolshevim

ha s y he firs isse of La Rvuin urdais i replee wh

press lippings onerning siide n he srvey onded in haisse on he qesion of wh people ill hemselve, Arad

response emains eemplar

sffer frighfll from life here is no stae anno aanAnd iho dob have been dead for a long ealrea have already ommied siide have, a i

were, been siided B wha wol yo hin of a siidebefore he faa siide ha made yo redre yorseps, b o omewhere beyond being, no oward dea

Arads pah wa alredy qie lear hrogh a nihilism ha

Dad never atine, hogh i had sogh i as a bas on wih o

eonsr he self, life, and soial organizaion, Arad hose a

retrn o e dissolion of he self in a spirial oal he

rrealism of he years afer he eond World War would adop aomparable stane, rerning in his way o he movemens saring

poin, and even ransending i, b i neverheless avoided he

lidiy and e drama lived o by Arad Very few rrealis

old ever apprehend heir w alienaion wih Arads cure

and awareness a nhappy lie a man who has los he bes part

of himself Ver few wold fe p so diretly o ther own frag

ened sae no loner w he onf 0 t dlu. Ikig

ead, oher are no separaed from hemselves hey onti e o

irle rod heir own orpses As for me, am no dead, b am

separaed from myself"

or Arad, in , he hope of a lssless soiey, he hope of

a oming reign of freedom, so passionaely enerained b

rrealism, had already been dashed aer, when he nmasing of

alinism as a dar lod over these aspirations in he hearts of

Breton and his friends, Srrealism ebraed Arads onlsion in

an inlecual way, and resolved lie him o live he draa of every


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day alienation as a cosmic rage of the mind.

In 124 , thoug, Surrealism was nowhere near tha point Its

surey of suicide also adressed the questin of life To the possibil

ity of eah were qUickly atache a l l the possibil iies o f freedom an all th e freeoms o f the possible. As Breton put it ,

It i s remarkable ho w tese repli es, be hey subtle , l iterar orerisive, all s ee m so ari; why is i hat no huan resona nceis detecable in them? To kill l-has no oe weighed thefury and experience, the disgust and passion, ha are contained in tis phrase

urealism thus recognize the mar of the ol worl and its

ppressive structues in he inhumanity of surial Though it may

have displayed a singular lack of iscernment wit regard to he ram

ifications of commodity fetishism, it must sill be gien credit for

having s very rarely failed t measure up (as reton was wont o

say) t the revolutionar ethic of feeom. The urealists' denunci

ation of oppression was welnigh continual, an the vilence f

heir tone canno help but arouse our sympah

The fact remains that these young people, who ought b rights

t have turne themselves into theorists an practitioners of the rev

oluion of everyday life, were content o be mere artiss theeof, ag

ing a war of mere harassmen agains bourgeois society as though it

fell to he Commnis Party alone to mount the main offensive Itthus came about that targets of great moment were chosen wiou

any deep convicion hat they ought be esignated as spheres of

ppression owards which the prletariat's anger should be directe;

ineed many a flaming brand hurled b he Surrealists amounted to

little more than pyrotechnics

The struggle agains Christianit, for instance, by now abanone

by Bolshevism, suffere not a little from this isconceived moesty.

Apart from the anoyne imager of Clovis Trouille an Max Ernst'sVirgin spanking the i nfant Jesus with her hal , Surrealist pai nting

eschewed the them e altogether

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Respnding an aep o annex hi (by eans no dub of

ne of hose iraes for which he Chrisians are s renwned

Araud ffered he foowing unabigous and definitive answer

shi on the Chrisian virues and on hatever i is ha des duy frthe ang he buddhas r he aas (Histoire etre la grome et Die

[isor eween Grousing and God] Ever faithfu his ph

graph in L Roltio Surraliste, hih bore he capin Our

nribur Benjain Pre nsuing a Pries Pre did uch

rescue ern petry fr is inkiness nd reendw wrds wihhe proise of acion when he wroe such ines as hese from e

ardina Mercier est r

Cardial Mercier moted o a policema

yo loked the other day like a dstbi spilling oer

with cmmio wafers

Cardial Mercier yo stik of god as the stable stis of dg

ad as dung stiks of Jess

O hese fr a oi Pau Bncour The Pau Boncour aw

Men h crsh seators like dog trds

lookig each other stight i the eye

il lagh like ais

will force the priests t kill the last eerals ith their csses

and the sig the ag!'ill ,'s:c; t]c pdrs 1)m:evf y ay o a Amen

he bases f a pracica approah to reigion were aid dwn in

ctin immiate by Ren agritte E T esens Pau oug

uis cuenaire and Andr ouris:

We are convinced tha wha has been done o oppsereigion up o now has been virtay ihout effect and hane eans of acion us be envisaged

A he presen ie the rreaiss are he peope besfied t underake his ask o as not o ose any ie

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e must aim for the head the outraeous istor of reli ions should be made knon to all the lis of ounpriests should be made unbearable and all scts and ora

nizations of the Salation rm or of the Eaneical ariet should be discredited b eans of r kind ofmocker our imaination can deise hin ho exhiaratin it oud be if e could persuade the tter prt ofour outh to mount a el prepared and ssteatic cmpain of disruption of church serices baptiss comunions funeras and so on Meanhile rodside crossesmiht useful be replaced b iaes protin erotic

loe or poeticaIl uloizin the natural surroundinsprticularl if these happen to be rim

n an article publishd in Inteenton surralste ( 34 ) hich ntscandalousl unheeded Pierre Yootte set the te for a debate tat

ouht b rihts to hae sparked action of the bradest scope

The Communists hae alas officiall inced an extremel unintellient suspicion ith respect to te discoeries ofpschoanalsis discoeries hich oul n fact haealloed them to combat th emotional prosss associatedwith famil reliion and fatherand i a completelinformed manner

Thouh hardl a rsponse adequate to the seriosness of this proect

Ren Creels deicious pschoanaltical accoun of esus in Le lavfcnde Dderot (famil and neuroses/famil of neurssfami neurosis)

is well orth quotin:

s the masochistic little chickabiddi of the FthrEternal much ien to turnin the other hek Jesus asnot the sort to be stisfied b some brisk rturn isit to themothers breast

On the contrar he had to o back up ito the ost priate of the enita parts of the nitor t bcom one ofthose parts himselfthe riht testicle becuse thTrinit ma be indeed must be interprete as the triartit

4 1


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i ppr th l xl ppr: tw ri r, prhpic thOritl tyl iit rit iil oly

, th pthoi chi i prcd y nm-r llr ivri, y wht th Frch cll idlingt t r ptiml ig with Sit Jhn h Bpi,itit ri with prd il t th hnd inly w, , v ll, th Lt Suppr ih i lo(l lov, tht i, wh ig w l no w o tht t th pitr wh hv rprn thil i o y lrt pictr h vr pt n h

l h littl plit lv ht cnly ymoi th o h wmn)

in m lgt whi r, n ndr hewi hi cr, J r hi bc wh blig orthcing. A Ptiu Pil h hdhi hd o h cd, th ul ymlim bcomecrytlclr. J ll, thn g p gin in hr wod,h h co, nd i ry t gin n h whip o

h ttic yp with thir kipy cmA, j th yng nwlyw i c o h

th, rightn i h vlupu pl, oJu ctily l t r hi hr . hn co hvi pong, iglling th ctpt thhd of J' ruinly ur o hi ttr-li yri t b hi prtty y I thr wr,th liory i ti, wh c hry hv il opt h prcti hip ry M among thpr rowi rod th t th r, lly rut py th hog v th tiit drp mil lui, i t pi i hi uth t rlin thpit . r thr Btw t two nll tht i r tw httth rr juicy ivinr hv hrivl it pir pitil riupckr, d th hrit i ut pthti pty vl

Br vi th t th riti vu whih wr

uitl r xplrti y urrli i it rvutiry pciiciy,

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but which were barely entere upon in prctice it is worth citing

one quite exemplry demonstrtion of the popular character of nti

Christin feeling The Communist pper Hut having reported

how church in flames ha been save thnks t the courge of few young people a reer sent a etter of protest to the eitors that

ws publishe in umber 2 of Le Surrlise u Sece de l oluto :

Dear Comres I cannot but epore your rporters prisefor the courage of group of young people when the onlyresut of that courage as the presetion of building that

shoul by rights have een raze long ago

fter Christianity and setting side cpitlism ith regar towhich the Surrelists espoused enins arguments the chief target of

execration was the fmily The trial of iolette ozires who hd

murdere her father the engine-drivr of the prsidentil trin fter

he trie to rape her offered the Surrealists the erfect opportunity

to voice their vies on tis question The you parricie inspired

some of Eluars sincerest lines

Volette dreed of udoig

d did udo

The frghu iper' est of blood ties

nother emblemtic figure gleefully pouncd on by Pret s

the proigiously fertile "other Cognacq:

ls she hs craed Mother oncq

craked just lie Frcero her bely gree s pasture

swred record-breig broodsad for ech e rr they got a stoer shoel

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e te cq e bbe c fte etee thesee ste tm

t P te fmy ck-te cked te cq et dce et dce d e e t td the t

Pre as the most enthusiastic mmbr o th group hen it

came to ourin scorn on th athranon France, on aic

avariciousess, on the cops an the ary. n this vin he proucedmany emently uotable lines, amon thm this on, rom "Brian

crev ian Has roake] "Finally this parboil sperm sprang

orth ro the maternal horehuse with an oiv branch s uck upis arse . r these, rom "La Stabilisation u ranc:

te e qe

t bee "L ese be me cde f te t bcketLet f1/ c e t t

n le us not oret to cassics a Mort h du l ieutenant oamine e la Tour

t me de t y eye te e mke cmmo fersf y cc eetd y ck becme h bde ba tot me de t y ee t

an "piahe sur un monumnt au morts a gu" pitapho n a Monuent to the ar Dea, whch Prt tr th i tr

ary contest o e cami Fran


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e gneral told uswith his finger up his bumThe enemy

is that way Move outIt was for the fatherlandSo off we wentwith our ingers up our bums

n Bn i is pssib find h smwhat sca maigs

f ibaian psiin A ftnt in h fist anesto o urrealis

is paicuay suggsiv in his gad

Whav svains may b awd ma cncning spnsibiiy in gna and h micga cnsiains which dmin an individus g ofspnsibiiycmp sponsibiiy ispnsibiityimi spnsibiiy (sic}hwv difficul i may b fom accp h pincip f any dg f spnsibiiy wud i nw hw h fist punishabl offnss whosis chaac is caly appan wi b judged. Wih accusd b acqitd wi h ml b givn thbnfit f h dub bcaus of nuain cicumsancs? is a sham ha th viatin f th aws gvning thpss is ay scacy punishd f hris w wusn s a ia f his st th accusd as pubishd a

b which is an ag t pubic dcnc sva of hisms spcab an hnoab fo ciizns havdg a compaint agains him and h is also chag withsan and ib; th a as a sots of h chagsagins hi m such as i nsuting and dfaming h amy i nciing t mud ap c Th accusd, moov wass nim i aging wih h accuss in stimaiing mst fh ias pss is ny dfnc is caiming ha h

ds n cns i hi msf b h auh f hi s b saidb bing n m an no ss han a aist cncocin which pcus any qusin f mit o ac f min th p a f h psn who signs i; fuh ha t a h has

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done is opy a domnt wthot offing any opnntheon and that h i s at l at as fogn to th asd txta is h psid ing dg himl f.

hat t fo th pblicaton wl aso hold t fo awho hot of oth acts as soon as alt m hods bginto oy widspad favo Whn that happns a nwmoity mst b sbtittd fo th pvailing moaity thsoe of al o tias and tiblations.

Thi last paagaph is ty xtaodnay in its mplation o

dsib evy at ondmnd by law as a l t wold i n thfist inta to point p th nivsality of aination h fat thatpopl ae nv tly thmsv bt ath that vyon ats fo

th mot at in aodan with th nhman tndni int il ld in

thm by oial onditioning It wold thn bom a simpl matt

hn o nsidi ng ats that w "phn ibl fom th stanpoi nt

of th la to ditngsh laly btwn tho whi indd oby

a logi of ath th logi of inhmanity imposd by th pow inpla an thos whih by ontast fow fom a flx of th wll to

lv. It s ths spising on th fa of it that Bton shold v

hav bn embaassd whn mindd of his lbatd popostio nin th ec Meto

Th simplt alit at conit in dahing down into thtt pisto in hand and fng bl ndly a fat a yo an plth tg into th owd. Anon who a la once in h "i s not damd of ths ptting a n nd to th ptty systm o dbamnt and tinzatio in fft ha a wlldfin pla in that cow with hs bly at bl lvl

This was a it adqat xpanaton aft al of why h an at

wold smpy b a way of makng a th wokng of an conom

and social sytm whh klls hman bing by ding thm to thstat of obts la and omphnib to von o t is t

not only tat th minal i not ponbl bt alo that th h

ahial oanizaton of oity with t batti of flnkyits


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agirae cop aager boe ad priei ielf ll

repoible f r all he ac ha i code. B hi egaive apec

ecaped Breoad coeel he wa abl o grap he po-

iivi ivolved eiher The poi of racedece here wa

onehele obvi o hi ad he iediael add a rider

The jificaio of ch a ac i o in i o waicopaible wih he belief i ha glea of ligh haSrreali ee o deec deep wihi . ipl waed obrig i here he elee of ha depair hi ide o

which ohig wold be able o jif ha beief i ipo-ible give oe ae o oe ad o o he her. Aoewho hld preed o ebrace hi bel ief ih rul har-ig hi depa ir wold oo be revealed a a ee.

While i i e ha exree depair a are liile hope

he real ie of he ruggle ill ha o be ade clear. Oce e have

arrived a he or of depair ha ipel followig he logic deah

ha power ipoe o ope fire io he crowd here i ol one wa

beod hi predicae ad ha i he liidai of poer in he

ae f a dialecic of life ad of all he hope lif ebodie. avig

reached ha poi i behved Seali a a irror held p he

poer of deah o iarae a ai Sreal i capable o cobinig

i a igle prac ice he ggle agai all for o oppreio ad he

defece of eve poiive par hro p b eveda li fe

O ch a prjec wh ich he Siaioi clearl forlaed i

he earl 1960 he Srreali poeed b a e caered

iigh ad he l coheio he col achieve here a a lri-ci edowig hee frage wih a il lory i

ere i Breo o iolee Nozire

In c yu sx wind li w h Ccombs

Sudns ld ys juliss bsds luinispiss juds

Wnin lwys

Knw ull wll h ll hi chy nds h

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W a s sa a e wever petry as ctemet t

practc a ts stace as act recte twars te ati

te ures rer s ar mre apparet i ret's iatieaast sycatrsts Nadja

I kw tat I were ma ater severa ays cemetJ su take avatae ay apses i my maess t mur-er ye preeray a ctr w came ear me At leastts wu permt me ke te vet t e ce stry. eraps tey' eave me ae

48


58/142

FAGMENTS O A PROJCT O

HUM EMAIPAIN

An attempt at a total revolution f every ife is cnene t

failure and fragmentation if it oes nt em a oerent lb

al negative critiue Wat is more, suc tereticl n rctcl

inaeuacy means tat autentic esires fr freem re renere

astrct by ieolog, even tug te ctinue t nfest

temseles in te sape of an illusor will to trnscenence t te

amiguous level of languageere is tus a trace, in te Surrealists string t crcuscribe

exceptional or isturbing occasions in lie exerience, f te

of passionate moments pa no ee to te ey ets f y

life, wrote Breton, and inee is entire wrk reles roundintensely experienced instants. ese e celertes wit yrcs

wic b no means exclues teir crticl nls, but wc, sice

it fails to incorporate tem into generlize scial rctice scceeds only in sealing tem in te mer of aestetic etins. e

erbal always carries te a, an, sal te nl cnsistecy

attaine by Suralism was tat f its selfjustifictin i ctr

terms ese revolutionaries of te eart were fte t cr ut

teir revolution solel in te rea f te min

e points at wic te ol wor was cumblin were ei

nentl perceptible to te Surrelists, n te suue tesereas wit an aura tat lent tem certn potence. Ments

of love, encounter, communicatin, sujectiitll were lleey

unifie b a sared ualit f freeom, et in reli te rene

isol so long as no eed was ein ai t t fact tt iertn

as a material force cannot e etace fr te verl ecip

tin of te proletariat; so isolate, inee, tt t sine Surreist

reisted te temptation to turn one or anter of te it nasolute, so creating an illusor totality

Love in particular (and justifia so) was te ject f

Surrealism's most firmly an consistentl sustaine oes. Presetin


59/142

Iqiry" i v i Numer 2 a vouon Surraste 1929 r r a I ere is ne iea which is ay sms

av scap vry amp a reucin . . . i i s we iv ia oe, al i is capaciy rcncie vry ma mprariy r

wi ia i" O evry ccasi an a vry sag

Srrass ivk sire uiy pery v a rv

Tr is sui us v" prcaime Br vr a

vr agai . Y si c e a ai e unrsan a as par

sam prcss r is n v wiu a rvui vryay li

r up via i ma v" prmig a vriacu ma. T Surraiss ppse iriism i am a lc a clsiv rm v u i is a p qs

wr s aagisic aiues i am

uc sam ig weer a wma evae rak

e Cs O a a wma uck vssy ar igreae as jcs B a as i may ir Br r r vrcag ir mi s mar hw csy y sui Furir as ai ris is sujec.

D Sa ers a perie cunerweih i

acism i his cncpin v arce ari is rig

pi u i is es Pods e s msus Wei hs an asrs] a w

su k Divi arquis r s juic iusy e igi g us

as raliy ur aur an r prviin us wi a asis r

ursaig v". ikewis Ren Char in he scn issu Lerr u Serl cf p (: IID S' ! ; i l a as cas he muck he ceesia wih a e ypcrisy

ps a erminae a eacy capa e preserving m rm

sarvai a kepin heir ine saners' hans u ir

pcks Nvrheess n maer hw en hey enie i

Surraiss wr cninuay an curius eaers Sae)rawig Crisian isincin eween carna an spiriua vr n again h pin view a pracic was vrgrasp a cu mr Saean han he iacic pasur

i is ua raisip lve n he ne han a isurrci


60/142

the othe; Even t nii is t Jacques Rigut cknowledged th ny

reontction of love must follow this pth: I hve idicued mny

thing. There i only one thing in te wold tht I hve never been

ble to ridicule, nd tht is leue."

Now it is te tht the ve se Pet who mpiled upe

nthology of ublime ove" so wote te ejculo poem of

Rouilles encages [Cged Rustsening couilles enrages, o ging

ls"- ] But whee exctly do the two obct of celebtion

invoved here relly come in to conjunction? Tht te pcticl ctiv

ity of in dividuls w ithi n the Surrelis t i ieu sohow gurntee

nity of this kind i distinctly dubious popoition. Breton, up

poed tndrdbee of ever feedo, w ite pble of t

d ertion, uttered duing pubi dete on te issue, tht he

found homoexuls guil ty of begging humn toence fo mentl

nd or shotcoming tht tend to set itself p system nd

prlye ever undertki ng o f the kind fo which I ve ny rpect"

And he proceeded to confes, fter deigning to don Jen Lorin

nd (nothing oth!) e Sde, tht h w uit repred to be n

obnti in tht pticur e". his wy of promoting per

on dtte to the level of generl lw or prciple Beton even

thretened to wlk out of the eeting if the dscussion of homo

exulity w not bndoned) clerly bespek the wot kind of

repeive ttitude Duing the se debte te utho of Ma ove

vined deep hotility to the ide of n king love with two

won t the se tie. If this w Sureli's wy of ccoding l

power to pion, it woul hrdly tk Fourier to descibe it s

ve roky ro.

Subjetivity, which rrelis simultneouly obscured nd illu

inted, i oe of those frgent sphees whose flights of lyi

i my mk thei fiue to evolve into evoltion theor he

vr first isue of L Rolution Surra liste uoted Piee Revedy' cedo

coding to which e poet ut seek the te subtnce of poet

r everwhere within imself" And thoughout is wok Breton

epetedly ephsizes the ireducible spect f ec indivil, the

5


61/142

mac te surreer t cace te pursut of aveture rea or

maary a te reveato o f ususpecte esres I rer to

reman at t ut to e ame a couctor of meta electrctpoetc tut must te frst pace e care up a sate

evromet" wrtes Breto we Geores Batale matas tat

Surreasm s precse tat movemet wc strps te ultmate

terest are emacpat t frm a comprmse a resutey

cast t as caprce pure a smpe " Yet eter ts prescrpt of

Bataes or Brets metatons o cace (wc Netzsce

efe as urse f r ourse f to ourse f" opes te ay toa practa vestmet f te rces of sujectvt te colectve

strue r te tta erato of te vua us sujetvt

a ts emas ackwlee ut ot reaze o te scal p ae

ecame a soure f artstc sprato a a measure o epressve

vaue t t mre Not more sum ta tat ceerat

e er ecessty" c Kask e to e te e esseta

etermat a creatrma accre sujectvt te cutura realm e to te

cal or a ew a f fee" a oto tat a curous fure ke Lotus

e a wou sucessfu urture respse to te eeral eer

vato o te seses f tout an of sesaton e Gra eu

roup wet ae of te Surreasts w te mystl

cofate sujetvt t wt te ew wa of fee ut al so

t te myt of . s was wat Ren Dauma cae te tur - ack f w 5(C", a ll PC5 0flte pont escre Bret as foows Evet tes t su-

est tat te m ma reac a pot wence fe a eat rea a

mana past a future communcae a commucae a

a ow a cease e perceve as cotractry" So as

t remane etace from te revoutoary project f te ttal

ma oever ts outook cou ever ecome at more atest ta a tatory or ermetc octre

So atou Surreasm rew attento to eac vuals

pteta for creatvt everya lfe t fae t spur te cec


62/142

tive acuali at ion of tat creativ ity by means of a revoluion made by

all in e interests of al insead, it invited e iniidual to lose is

way twice over: to engae in a marginal activity wic relied on

Bolsevism to spar e revolutionar process, and to strive for astrictly culural overtrow of culure Tis de faco renunciation of

te possibiliies for subjecive selfrealiation, even as ese were

invoed on te literary and pictorial levels, was accompanied by a

call to sacrifice (from Breon on severa occasions)a call, in oter

words, to e casration wic is te yncpin of all ierarcical

power Tose wo ad waned o restore ar to ife tus ended up

turni ng direct experience ino jus one more value on te art maret.

Wat prevented urrealism from becoming a cultural catletrou,

afer te fas ion of absrac ar, existeniali sm, te ov om Pop

Art, or appenings, was e fac tatunlie Aragon, luard and

DalBreon, Pre, Tanguy and Araud did coninue, confusedly

an spontaneously, to rejec anying in e movement tat eniedteir subjectivity or utimae uniqueness. n is reface for a eprin t

of te Manifeso" 199 ) Breon put in o words at te best of te

urreali sts amos cerainy fel

f a sysem wic mae my own, wic sowy adapto myself, suc as urrealism, remains, and must alwaysremain, subsanial enoug o overelm me, it will forall tat never acquire e werewial o mae of me wat

wanted o be, as ready and willing as mig be for ito do so

Te coice of l ife, i f no resricted o e role o f nourising l it-

erar or pictorial forms o f expression , o te wod of images, analo -

gies, metapors or ric words, is tus ap o lead o an incipient

practice, to an embryon ic science of man ta is ripped of all pos-

i tivism , as far removed as can be imagined from e specia lied attitude of te scienis, and inabied by a desire o experiment in

every direction , an d o documen all suc experimenation to wat

ever extent mi gt be requi red

5


63/142

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN AND IS

EXPERENTA INVSIGAIO

aul Ng Blgia Surral ist grup pus i s i gr a vry

imprta r mvmet w wris

e must tr wa a urs vry s a Lma g wr as vr g pri wat asvr ep riee ik wat e as vr tug wa as vr . Bu p is all r r supartures su a risis t pripia s wii s mi l us rae isrig js

Lavig asi ai us pla i t arsarg pwr

su jets ws trasrmati i mmiis a ii masms Surraism ail rs Nugs prps as

gra mri at i pris rm t us ay appal pur

wl. Likwis w irs umr lutin Surralistrira Arag's rmuati i Une Vague d rs [A av

Drams at W av arriv at a w larat

rigs ma" lar impl ai is ta i g at rs

ug magiai ai expr ssi r i m


64/142

(while a he same ime enrihing) he rrealis sorehose ofnowledge.

efore reon loaed he momen of revoion in a mhial

absole where individal and olleive hisor ere spposed oome ogehe G Rose in Vitt Nzirs ( 133 woe he following lines resonding lie a las eho of Massons wahword:

Hr rvad at ast b atr iviat s f rs

is t prsai

uk ad ptc

f Vi tt Nzirs

murdrss as mg t b

a paitr

FUD AD AUTOMATI WITIG

A onsiderable porion of rrealisms ener was applied oresearh ino he limis of he possible ino exreme forms varieiesof expression and he affirmaion or desrio of he hman phe-nomenon in is elaionships ih he wold as seen fom he

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