History of the Surrealist Movement

Divided chronologically into seven chapters, beginning with 1919-1924 and ending with 1959-1969, the book discusses expertly the main surrealist artists like Jean Arp, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro, but also treats with considerable understanding the surrealist writing by Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, Robert Desnos, Julien Gracq and, of course, the so-called “Pope of Surrealism,” André Breton. Emerging from the disarray of World War I, surrealism finally foundered soon after the death of Breton in 1966, by which time world events were as ghastly as any surrealist’s most vivid nightmare. There is also room for descriptions of hitherto neglected figures, like the ‚migr‚ painter Simon Hanta‹, father of the great harpsichordist Pierre Hanta‹. The translation manages to convey the clarity of the original text, published in France in 1997, although the syntax is sometimes half French, half English. Durozoi concludes that the “prestige” of surrealism is intact, and the movement managed to “infuse [life] with fresh air,” as Gracq wrote.