REAL SURREALISM
david neal
SAKE?
Brandon Freels
"david neal" <david-...@beeb.net> wrote in message
news:9dmaia$1470$1...@news.beeb.net...
icsu...@webtv.net
C.Francis
Dale Houstman
"C.Francis" <claytf...@one.net.au> wrote in message
news:3b026...@news01.one.net.au...
what is surrealism?
does an answer even matter?
art is a personal journey. It goes under no tittle.
I am not certain what a "tittle" is (a little tit?), but I can tell you
this: surrealism is NOT art. Art is one tool of surrealism, but surrealism
is a larger subject. And since surrealism was discovered by and defined at
great length by one man, there is an answer to your first question, and one
which is well on its way to being answered by the FAQ.
BTW: even art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age
"whatever" attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to
flush the baby out with the blather.
dmh
Brandon Freels
> And since surrealism was discovered by and defined at
> great length by one man, there is an answer to your first question, and
one
> which is well on its way to being answered by the FAQ.
Surrealism FAQ
Version 1.1 (February 2001)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Surrealism?
1.1 Pure Psychic Automatism
1.2 A Short Introduction to the Surrealist Movement
The Surrealist Revolution
2.1 Politics
2.2 Art and Literature
Surrealist Explorations: Play and Creativity
3.1 Automatism
3.2 Forced Inspiration
3.3 The Surrealist Collage
3.4 The Surrealist Object
3.5 Games
Some Surrealist Concepts
4.1 Black Humor
4.2 The Marvelous
4.3 Mad Love
4.4 Miserablism
The Periphery: Precursors, Fellow Travelers, et al.
5.1 George Bataille
5.2 Dada
5.3 Salvador Dali (Avida Dollars)
5.4 The Occult
5.5 Oulipo
5.6 Pataphysics
5.7 Psychoanalysis
5.8 Situationist International
Appendix
6.1 Further Reading in English
6.2 Online Documents
6.3 Online Surrealist Groups
6.4 Online Surrealist Resources
6.5 FAQ Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Thanks to the common misrepresentations spread throughout the Internet and
academia by individuals hoping to reorient its focus Surrealism is often
misunderstood as an artistic style, a literary movement, a form of mystical
escapism into a world of illusions, convenient weirdness, and a variety of
other banalities. This Frequently Asked Questions was produced to combat the
onslaught of such disinformation. It will be regularly posted to
alt.surrealism, an open forum for discussion and a dumping ground for
anything that falls within the scope of Surrealist interest.
"Perhaps the greatest danger threatening Surrealism today is the fact that
because of its spread throughout the world, which was very sudden and rapid,
the word found favor much faster than the idea." ---André Breton, Surrealist
Situation of the Object
"Surrealism has declared, in every authentic manifestation, its commitment
to revolution; the displacement of the real import of the word by
inhibitions in the writings of college teachers does not alter that
commitment in the slightest. It merely means that there is promulgated the
illusion that critics have something to add." ---The Chicago Surrealist
Group, reply to The New York Review of Books
WHAT IS SURREALISM?
1.1 Pure Psychic Automatism
Pure Psychic Automatism is the primary and natural condition of the mind and
all its faculties free from the interference of external constraints such as
rationalism, aestheticism, utilitarianism, and religious superstition. This
autonomy is achieved only when the socially constructed apparatuses of
repression are dismantled and those ostracized characteristics of the mind
(innovative imagination, uncompromised desire, and so on) are reintegrated
into everyday life, delivering the mind to a state of free development and
spontaneity. It is in this state, where the individual has regained the
primeval senses, that the mind can move forward to an untainted awareness of
existence, which is the most complete experience of reality---a surreality.
Pure Psychic Automatism is synonymous with Surrealism.
"SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes
to express---verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other
manner---the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the
absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or
moral concern." ---André Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism
"Surrealism is not a new means of expression, or an easier one, nor even a
metaphysics of poetry. It is a means of total liberation of the mind and of
all that resembles it ... Surrealism is not a poetic form. It is a cry of
the mind turning back on itself, and it is determined to break apart its
fetters, even if it must be by material hammers!" ---Declaration of January
27, 1925
"Surrealism, a unitary project of total revolution, is above all a method of
knowledge and a way of life; it is lived far more than it is written, or
written about, or drawn. Surrealism is the most exhilarating adventure of
the mind, an unparalleled means of pursuing the fervent quest for freedom
and true life beyond the veil of ideological appearances." ---Franklin
Rosemont, Andre Breton and the First Principles of Surrealism
1.2 A Short Introduction to the Surrealist Movement
The Surrealist Movement was founded in Paris in 1924 for the sole purpose of
changing reality through the dissolving of orthodoxy, the liberation of the
mind, and the reintegration of the inner necessities with the exterior life.
Opening the Bureau of Surrealist Research and eventually publishing two
journals (The Surrealist Revolution and Surrealism in the Service of the
Revolution) the original group's initial focus was on uncovering and
exploring the techniques that capture the real functioning of thought. In
their program these investigations (from sleeping trances to automatic
writing) were adjoined to scalding critiques of both the repressive art and
literature of the time and the culture of rationalism in general.
Through the 1930s the movement continued to grow in infamy and influence
with groups appearing in the United Kingdom, Japan, Yugoslavia,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Egypt, and a variety of other
countries. This fecund period ended with the Second World War, when the
Paris surrealists were dispersed or detained. Following the war the movement
found itself fragmented. André Breton could only partially reconstitute the
Paris group, as its former members were no longer on a common course.
Opposition to Breton's increasing interest in esotericism led to splinter
groups and competitors, such as Isadore Isou's Lettrist Movement and CoBrA.
In 1966, with the approval of Breton, the first indigenous surrealist group
in the United States was formed in Chicago by Paul Garon and Franklin and
Penelope Rosemont, which has remained the most visible group writing in
English, printing a variety of publications such as their journal Arsenal:
Surrealist Subversion. In September of 1966 Breton died and in March of 1969
the Paris group officially disbanded. However, the majority of the group
reemerged in 1970 with the Bulletin de Liaison Surrealiste.
Today the movement is a decentralized and international constellation of
groups and individuals committed to Surrealism's resilient principles. It
remains a work in progress, and along with the older collectives (in Paris,
Chicago, and Prague), smaller groups of surrealists continue to form around
the globe to work in the margins. Among recent groups are those in
Stockholm, Leeds, Madrid, Argentina, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Whether these
groups will only change the individuals involved or if they can have a
broader impact is a question of little importance. Rather, they are certain
that the drive for liberty is unstoppable, and that a revolution that
redresses the human condition will necessarily be surrealist.
THE SURREALIST REVOLUTION
The two principle expressions of the movement's thrust for complete freedom
are its political nature and its creative output: the first of which
criticizes culture for repressing the internal necessities, and the second
of which seeks to release them.
2.1 Politics
The movement's political stance, which developed out of Dada's spirit of
revolt and vague anarchism, hardened in 1925 as a response to the resurgence
in French patriotism and militarism when France sent an army to put down an
independence movement in Morocco. Resolving that a revolution in
consciousness cannot transpire independent of a revolution in man's material
condition the Paris surrealists began an association with the Communist
Party. During their brief alliance with associates of the hard line Clarté
periodical, who were uniquely sympathetic to surrealist stands and who
shared a common goal in working to subvert bourgeois culture, efforts by the
surrealists to demonstrate their Party loyalty were repaid with belittlement
and interrogations. To the Communist Party their synthesis of Marx and Freud
was an obstacle to total commitment to the Party.
In addition, there was a conflict over the direction of revolutionary art.
The Communist International had developed the concept of "proletarian
literature," which reduced art to the role of propaganda, and later the
Soviet Writers Congress officially adopted the doctrine of "socialist
realism," which the surrealists denounced as an attempt to enclose art's
revolutionary message in the conservative forms of 19th century bourgeois
aesthetics, entirely antithetical to creativity. The surrealists argued that
art's revolutionary value cannot be reduced to its obvious manifest message.
The artist requires absolute freedom to create new means of expression and
deal with such fundamental matters as psychology and sexual freedom,
concerns the Communist Party considered decadent. Through the 1930s the
surrealists grew more distant from the French Left and from Moscow, and in
1935 they broke away from the Communist Party altogether.
By the late 1930s, fascism had risen in Germany, Italy and Spain with the
complicity of the western democracies, themselves having become increasingly
oppressive. The surrealists continued to issue statements denouncing French
policy on the Spanish Civil War, the Moscow trials of the Stalinist purge,
and the Munich talks. In 1938, Breton and Leon Trotsky proposed the creation
of F.I.A.R.I. (Fédération internationale de l'art révolutionnaire
indépendant), an international association of Marxists and anarchists to
pursue a revolutionary art opposed to the decree of fascist dictatorship,
bourgeois democracy, capitalism (art for art's sake), and Stalinism (social
realism). Though hopelessness was setting in among anti-war activists,
F.I.A.R.I. groups were organized in France, Mexico, Argentina, England and
the U.S. The Paris group started a review, Clé, which lasted but two issues,
just long enough to record the deteriorating political climate.
Since the 1940s surrealism has remained non-aligned, often affiliating with
and supporting a variety of revolutionary movements that oppose the existing
conditions of the social, political, and cultural order, and issuing
opinions on contemporary political matters (such as advocating for world
disarmament, denouncing French colonialism in Indochina and Algeria,
protesting the Soviet intervention in Hungary, applauding the outset of the
Cuban Revolution before it was aligned with Russia, and, more recently,
siding with those responsible for the Los Angeles Rebellion of 1992). In its
modern development the political position of Surrealism can be summed up by
the finale of the Chicago Group's Declaration of War (1971):
"Let us speak plainly. Until the last convict is out of prison and the last
'madman' out of the asylum; until the last army has been disbanded and the
last government overthrown; until the last church has been burned and the
last bank pulverized; until the last capitalist and the last cop have been
hanged to death with the guts of the last politician and the last priest;
that is, until men and women are truly free, surrealism will continue
relentlessly to provide miraculous weapons with which to struggle for this
freedom."
2.2 Art and Literature
For the surrealist the use of art and literature is unconditionally directed
at the unleashing and exploring of the imagination, free from such retarding
devices as premeditation and aesthetics, so that the work can be ruled by
desire alone and cover, as Breton stated in Surrealism and Painting, "the
whole psychophysical field (in which consciousness constitutes only a very
small segment)." The surrealist use of art and literature stands opposed to
the notion of talent and the domination of so-called specialists. Following
in the footsteps of Lautréamont's famous maxim that "poetry must be made by
all," surrealists appreciate art and literature for their ability to
manifest the individual's internal and emotional order, and believe that
everyone has the capacity and necessity to create.
"... surrealist painters, who are poets, always think of something else. The
unprecedented is familiar to them, premeditation unknown. They are aware
that the relationships between things fade as soon as they are established,
to give place to other relationships just as fugitive. They know that no
description is adequate, that nothing can be reproduced literally. They are
all animated by the same striving to liberate the vision, to unite
imagination and nature, to consider all possibilities a reality, to prove to
us that no dualism exists between the imagination and reality, that
everything the human spirit can conceive and create springs from the same
vein, is made of the same matter as his flesh and blood, and the world
around him." ---Paul Éluard, Poetic Evidence
"The art of painting, as I conceive of it, consists in representing through
pictorial technique the unforeseen images that might appear to me at certain
moments, whether my eyes are open or shut." ---Rene Magritte, from a letter
to Mr. and Mrs. Barnet Hodes
"Centuries from now, any art that takes new paths toward a greater
emancipation of the mind will be Surrealist." ---Andre Breton, from an
interview with Jose M. Valverde
SURREALIST EXPLORATIONS
3.1 Automatism
Automatism is a behavior of the body whereby subverting the restraint of
consciousness an individual is compelled to perform involuntary motor or
verbal activities. It can be achieved through a variety of techniques, the
best known being the practice of automatic writing which Freud advocated as
a way of getting around self-censorship. This technique originated with the
Spiritualists who were the source of the trance sessions and other devices
employed by the surrealists. The surrealist use of these devices, it is
worth remembering, is not one of Freudian therapy or absurdities like
communicating with the dead, but for liberating the imagination. The results
of automatism can be found in the paintings of Joan Miro and André Masson,
in André Breton and Philippe Soupault's The Magnetic Fields, and in the
sleeping trances of Robert Desnos. It is a common misconception that
surrealists object to any revision of a text that has been written
automatically. In fact, after the initial experiment of The Magnetic Fields
automatic texts have been habitually edited.
"The whole point, for Surrealism, was to convince ourselves that we had got
our hands on the 'prime matter' (in the alchemical sense) of language. After
that, we knew where to get it, and it goes without saying that we had no
interest in reproducing it to the point of satiety; this is said for the
benefit of those who are surprised that among us the practice of automatic
writing was abandoned so quickly." ---André Breton, On Surrealism and Its
Living Works
"I resolved to obtain from myself ... a monologue spoken as rapidly as
possible without any intervention on the part of the critical faculties, a
monologue unencumbered by the slightest inhibition and which was, as closely
as possible, akin to spoken thought." ---André Breton, Manifesto of
Surrealism
3.2 Forced Inspiration
Forced Inspiration is the liberation of imaginative associations through the
suggestive quality of a particular perception that gives way to the
dictation of the internal and emotional order, revealing the veiled-erotic.
This method of creative interpretation, which has been utilized in the
teachings of Leonardo da Vinci, in the everyday activity of cloud watching,
and in psychoanalysis through the Rorschach Ink-Blot Test, was first used
within the realm of Surrealism by Max Ernst who theorized in his Beyond
Painting a technique called Frottage, whereby crayon or graphite is rubbed
on paper which as been placed over an object or texture with the hopes of
revealing or inspiring an image. Since then a number of similar techniques
all focused on revealing or inspiring previously unforeseen images out of
ambiguity have developed, such as: Decalcomania (pressing paper on a
non-absorbent surface of which gouache, ink, or oil paints have been spread,
originated by Oscar Dominquez), Fumage (passing paper over a smoking candle,
originated by Wolfgang Paalen), and Grottage (scrapping paint from the
surface of a painting, originated by Ernst). Salvador Dali's
Paranoiac-Critical Method is also an example of Forced Inspiration, but its
imaginative associations do not come from an ambiguous source, instead they
come from a more defined perception, creating a double image or even a chain
of images. Forced Inspiration is synonymous with Interpretive Delirium.
3.3 The Surrealist Collage
The Surrealist Collage is a method of gluing together the displaced bits and
pieces of originally unrelated images onto a flat surface to create a new
unforeseen image, most notably seen in the works of Max Ernst. This
principle of displacement can also be used with language and other forms of
creativity, such as with Lautréamont's famous line from Maldoror: "As
beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a
dissecting table."
"The value of the image depends upon the beauty of the spark obtained ...
the two terms of the image are not deduced from the other by the mind for
the specific purpose of producing the spark, [but rather] they are the
simultaneous products of the activity I call Surrealist, reason's role being
limited to taking note of, and appreciating, the luminous
phenomenon." ---André Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism
3.4 The Surrealist Object
The Surrealist Object is an object, real or imaginary, that has been removed
from its original utilitarian role within the confinement of everyday life
by the dictation of the internal and emotional order. The earliest known
collector of these objects was the German writer Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
who, in 1798, completed a list of imaginary instruments, the most popular
being "a bladeless knife with the handle missing." Since the first group
exhibition of Surrealist Objects in 1936 numerous types of objects have been
invented or theorized, such as: the Found Object, the Natural Object (such
as stones or shells), and the Perturbed Object (deformations), all of which
rely on how the object interacts with the finder's interior necessities.
Other objects include the Interpretive Object (an object physically or
interpretively transformed by the finder) and the Poem-Object (a poem in
which several of the words are replaced with physical objects).
3.5 Games
The surrealist use of games, like that of art and literature, is primarily
focused on the subversion of premeditation and rational constraints, but in
addition it is also a subversion of the artist's ego with the potential for
revealing the Marvelous heavily relying on the release of collective
creativity. The most famous of these games is the Exquisite Corpse, a game
of paper folding whereby each player creates an incomplete image or phrase
that is unseen by the other players who will then complete the image or
phrase. Specific rules are required for the linguistic version of the game:
player one writes a definite or indefinite article and an adjective, player
two writes a noun, player three writes a verb, player four writes another
definite or indefinite article and an adjective, and player five writes
another noun. The first sentence obtained from this method was "The
exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine." Another game is the game of
Question and Answer (also known as the Game of Definitions), whereby a
question or word is provided by one player, and an answer or definition is
provided by another player who has no knowledge of the question or word
provided by the first player. The question and answer (or word and
definition) are put together to reveal the results, such as:
What is the desert? A dove alighting on a flame.
What is evolution? A calligraphic box of anatomical forms.
SOME SURREALIST CONCEPTS
4.1 Black Humor
Black Humor is a type of humor, often ironic and macabre, where the drive
for pleasure surmounts the trauma of the exterior world. An example taken
from Freud would be that of a man sentenced to be executed on a Monday who
exclaims, "What a wonderful way to start the week!" Exemplary in the works
of Jacques Vaché, Jonathan Swift, and the Marquis de Sade.
4.2 The Marvelous
In its central characterization the Marvelous is a revolt against and an
overturning of common sensibility that is guided by desire and governed by
pleasure. In Mad Love Breton recognized three distinct manifestations of the
Marvelous: fixed-explosive (the juxtaposition or unification of two distant
features), magic-circumstantial (a coincidence manipulated by desire;
synonymous with Objective Chance), and veiled-erotic (the alternating
between two or more coherent perceptions). All of these manifestations rely
heavily on the freeing of the individuals own subjectivity and imagination,
and a reorientation to the inner necessities. The Marvelous is synonymous
with Convulsive Beauty.
4.3 Mad Love
Mad Love is an overwhelming and excessive pursuit of love driven by an
irrational momentum that is often compulsive and spontaneous, and has little
to do with choice and more to do with internal necessity.
"Only love in the sense that I understand it---mysterious, improbable,
unique, bewildering, and certain love that can only be foolproof, might have
permitted the fulfillment of a miracle." ---André Breton, Nadja
"The act of love, just as with a painting or a poem, is discredited if he
who surrenders to it does not do so in a trance." ---André Breton, Apertures
4.4 Miserablism
Miserablism is an inurement to misery, occurring when the deficiencies of
existence are accepted as normal or unavoidable. Defined by Breton as "the
depreciation of reality in place of its exaltation" and further elaborated
by the Chicago Surrealist Group as "the rationalization of the unlivable,"
Miserablism is one of the main enemies of Surrealism, cultivated by economic
rationalism and religion.
THE PERIPHERY: Precursors, Fellow Travelers, et al.
This is not an exhaustive list of the periphery, but rather a short list of
groups and individuals from the periphery who have, at times, been relative
to the discussions at alt.surrealism. Further suggestions and participation
within this section is encouraged.
5.1 Georges Bataille
Under construction
5.2 Dada
Under construction
5.3 Salvador Dali (Avida Dollars)
Under construction
5.4 The Occult
Under construction
5.5 Oulipo
Under construction
5.6 Pataphysics
Under construction
5.7 Psychoanalysis
Under construction
5.8 Situationist International
In 1956 two para-surrealist groups, the International Movement for an
Imaginist Bauhaus and the Lettrist International, met at the First World
Congress of Liberated Artists and soon after unified (along with the
fictional London Psychogeographical Association) to form the Situationist
International.
Instead of passively accepting what the commodity system has made of living
(a boring mess of alienation and separation) the Situationist International
chose as their basic premise the construction of a new way of life. Their
social critique of capitalism, as theorized in Guy Debord's Society of the
Spectacle, began with their identification of the spectacle, a web of images
and representations (such as advertisements, television, sports events,
newscasts) that develops from the perspective of those in power. The
spectacle is collectively viewed and constantly renewed, turning the
individual into a passive receptor by replacing leisure (what do I want to
do today?) with entertainment (what do I want to see today?). The individual
is no longer active, but exists in a petrified state of buying and selling
experiences.
For the Situationist International the spectacle could be subverted and a
new way of life could be discovered by the individual's management and
construction of situations, those temporary settings of life that are
characterized by a superior emotional quality. The construction of
situations would be based on the theory of Unitary Urbanism, defined as the
use of an ensemble of arts and techniques that would contribute to an
integral composition of the urban space or environment, recovering that
space from the manipulation of the spectacle. Unitary Urbanism would rely on
the method of detournment, whereby a preexisting artistic element is reused
in a new ensemble, and the field study of Psychogeography, defined as the
gathering of information on how the environment influences the psychology of
the individuals. This information can be discovered through the method of
the dérive, a transient passage through a variety of ambiances, and once the
proper information is obtained it would be applied to the construction of
situations.
The Situationist International remained somewhat obscure until 1966 when
they published Mustapha Khayati's On the Poverty of Student Life at the
request of and funded by the student union of the University of Strasbourg.
The pamphlet, which lambasted universities for institutionalizing ignorance
and ridiculed modern culture and its officials, was denounced as a
misappropriation of public funds. The result was a public scandal and the
closure of the student union. Khayati's highly distributed pamphlet
eventually found its way to the University of Paris at Nanterre in early
1968, and inspired a group known as the Enragés to graffiti the walls of the
campus with Situationist slogans and to sabotage lectures. A general protest
followed in May where students engaged in political discourse and even
questioned the idea of the university itself, which eventually lead to the
closure of the college on May 2nd. Action committees set up by the
Situationist International and the Enragés were struck to spread the protest
to schools and factories throughout France, and by May 21st Paris was
paralyzed by a general strike. For this brief period France appeared to be
on the brink of revolution, but de Gaulle regained power with the assistance
of the military and dissolved the situation.
Despite the growth of interest in their ideas following this period the
Situationist International disbanded in 1972.
APPENDIX
6.1 Further Reading in English
Surrealist Authors: Louis Aragon ("Paris Peasant," "Treatise on Style");
André Breton ("What is Surrealism? Selected Writings [ed. Franklin
Rosemont]," "Manifestoes of Surrealism," "Surrealism and Painting," "Nadja,"
"The Communicating Vessels," "Mad Love," "Arcanum 17," "The Lost Steps,"
"Break of Day," "Free Rein," "Anthology of Black Humor," "Conversations: The
Autobiography of Surrealism," "The Magnetic Fields [with Philippe
Soupault]," "The Immaculate Conception [with Paul Eluard]"); Leonora
Carrington ("Down Below," "The Hearing Trumpet"); Robert Desnos ("Liberty or
Love," "Mourning for Mourning," "Selected Poems"); Max Ernst ("The Hundred
Headless Woman," "A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil"); Michel Leiris
("Aurora," "Brisees: Broken Branches"); Pierre Mabille ("Mirror of the
Marvelous"); Benjamin Péret ("Death to the Pigs," "A Marvelous World").
Anthologies: "The Poetry of Surrealism" (ed. Michael Benedikt), "A Book of
Surrealist Games" (ed. Mel Gooding), "The Shadow and Its Shadow: Surrealist
Writing on the Cinema" (ed. Paul Hammond), "The Autobiography of Surrealism"
(ed. Marcel Jean), "The Custom-House of Desire" (ed. JH Matthews),
"Investigating Sex: Surrealist Discussions 1928-32" (ed. Jose Pierre),
"Surrealism" (ed. Herbert Read), "Refusal of the Shadow: Surrealism and the
Caribbean" (ed. Michael Richardson), "Arsenal: Surrealist Subversion 4" (ed.
Franklin Rosemont), "The Forecast is Hot!" (ed. Franklin Rosemont),
"Surrealism and Its Popular Accomplices" (ed. Franklin Rosemont),
"Surrealist Women" (ed. Penelope Rosemont).
While the best critical overviews of and introductions to Surrealism are
Franklin Rosemont's introduction to "What is Surrealism? Selected Writings
of André Breton," Penelope Rosemont's "Surrealist Women," and the many books
of JH Matthews, the following books merit attention as they were used as
sources for this FAQ: Sarane Alexanderian, "Surrealist Art"; Jacqueline
Chénieux-Gendron, "Surrealism"; David Gascoyne, "A Short Survey of
Surrealism"; Helena Lewis, "The Politics of Surrealism"; Maurice Nadeau,
"The History of Surrealism"; Rene Passeron, "The Concise Encyclopedia of
Surrealism"; Jose Pierre, "An Illustrated Dictionary of Surrealism."
6.2 Online Documents
What is Surrealism? by Andre Breton:
http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/whatsurr.html
What is Surrealism? by Andre Breton (alternative link):
http://www-e815.fnal.gov/~romosan/surrealism.html
Declaration of January 27, 1925:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1925surrealism.html
Murderous Humanitarianism:
http://www.postfun.com/racetraitor/features/murderous.html
6.3 Online Surrealist Groups
The Chicago Group: http://www.surrealism-usa.org/
The Czech & Slovak Group: http://home.ti.cz/~surreal/surrealindex.html
The Netherlands Group: http://www.geocities.com/surrealisme_in_nederland/
The Paris Group: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jjmeric/
The Portugal Group: http://members.tripod.co.uk/surrealismo/
The Stockholm Group: http://www.users.wineasy.se/vertsurr/
Surrealists in Minnesota: http://www.magneticfields.org/
The Wisconsin Group: http://www.execpc.com/~bogartte/Counterclockwise.html
6.4 Online Surrealist Resources
The Library: http://www.kalin.lm.com/author.html
No More Words:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rmutt/dictionary/NoMoreWords.html
Surrealist Writers: http://www.creative.net/~alang/lit/surreal/writers.sht
6.5 FAQ Acknowledgements
Brandon Freels (brandon...@netzero.net): principal author, editor.
Parry Harnden (ame...@norlink.net): contributing author.
February 10, 2001
CycloTron
http://www.geocities.com/donbolduc/
(`'·.,¸¸,ø¤°Cyclo{-_-}Tron°¤ø,¸¸,.·'´)
Nikolaus Maack
> And since surrealism was discovered by and defined at
> great length by one man
Who was that man?
I'd like to shake his hand.
He soaked my Houstman in chicken gravy.
Yeah. Ooooo ooo oooooo!
Saying Andre Breton "discovered" surrealism is like saying Starbucks
"discovered" coffee. Discuss.
(Or more accurately, disgust.)
> BTW: even art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age
> "whatever" attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to
> flush the baby out with the blather.
Bad news -- Logic died yesterday. It had a heart attack in a brothel in
the city of Reason. At the time of Logic's death, it was in bed with
Self-deception and Irrationality. Logic had paid these two sexy lasses to
engage him in certain sexual acts. Proved to be a little too much for
him, and now the bastard is dead.
From now on, when one wishes to use Logic, one will have to use Subjective
Speculation. We appologize for any inconvenience this might cause you, or
your loved ones, or your particular philosophical bias.
Nik
--
You're not smart enough
to understand
how stupid I am.
Bill Cleere
"Nikolaus Maack" <ac...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message news:9e0a1h$rg9$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...
> "Dale Houstman" (dm...@citilink.com) writes:
> > And since surrealism was discovered by and defined at
> > great length by one man
>
> Who was that man?
> I'd like to shake his hand.
> He soaked my Houstman in chicken gravy.
> Yeah. Ooooo ooo oooooo!
>
> Saying Andre Breton "discovered" surrealism is like saying Starbucks
> "discovered" coffee. Discuss.
>
> (Or more accurately, disgust.)
>
> > BTW: even art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age
> > "whatever" attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to
> > flush the baby out with the blather.
>
> Bad news -- Logic died yesterday. It had a heart attack in a brothel in
> the city of Reason. At the time of Logic's death, it was in bed with
> Self-deception and Irrationality. Logic had paid these two sexy lasses to
> engage him in certain sexual acts. Proved to be a little too much for
> him, and now the bastard is dead.
Who cares? A bunch of us are going to go down to the Cafe des Miserables
and auto-write the Miserabilist Manifesto, based on a suggestion in Brandon's
excellent FAQ.
Miserablism is the triumph of The Same Damn Thing over Logic.
Miserabilism rulez!
john adams
"Nikolaus Maack"
> "discovered" coffee. Discuss.
>
> (Or more accurately, disgust.)
>
> > BTW: even art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age
> > "whatever" attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to
> > flush the baby out with the blather.
>
> Bad news -- Logic died yesterday. It had a heart attack in a brothel in
> the city of Reason. At the time of Logic's death, it was in bed with
> Self-deception and Irrationality. Logic had paid these two sexy lasses to
> engage him in certain sexual acts. Proved to be a little too much for
> him, and now the bastard is dead.
>
> Speculation. We appologize for any inconvenience this might cause you, or
> your loved ones, or your particular philosophical bias.
It sounds fair enough to me. And we know its oversimplifying matters to give
the credit to Breton who admitted it had existed before and
would continue to flourish well after him. There were far too many
individuals adding to its (uncontainable) totality and constant molding
, just during his lifetime and involvement.
john
Dale Houstman
"john adams" <gala...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010517224249...@ng-ch1.aol.com...
it's more along the lines of a necessary linguistic shortcut. He does - of
course - admit that its aspects and features pre-existed him, just as the
"mind" pre-existed Freud. But Freud "discovered" psychotherapy. But Breton
named the many facets and drew them together into a entity that was
identifiable. Surrealism - as an identifiable body of thought with a name -
does not pre-exist Breton. And to say that after his creation of the
nomenclature and "ordering" others added and molded it (true) says nothing
to the question, any more than saying the creation of the transistor radio
eradicates Marconi and others from the known history of the radio.
dmh
john adams
"Dale Houstman" <dm...@citilink.com> wrote in message
news:3b04f426$0$320$65a9...@news.citilink.com...
Again, to point to the original wording "And since surrealism was
discovered by and defined at great length by one man, that answers
your first question" (what is surrealism?) - the nomenclature of course comes
from Apollinaire and all the many facets that were coming
together were not really pulled in by Breton alone. We have to
consider Dada, and all of the predating lineage and thought, and the fact that
Aragon and Souppalt were co-creators from the beginning and
then Eluard as well. Then we have all of the contributing "members",
and this isn't taking into consideration all the players on the side. Yes,
it's true Breton offered much in the way of philosophical steam and a
kind of glue througout the years. Who's to say it wouldn't have evolved
along similar lines without him? As someone once said here, it's mere mystical
speculation to consider that it wouldn't have, or along those
lines.
So to say he discovered it, like the transitor was discovered, was an
over-simplification, because for instance, it wasn't automatism he discovered,
or even labeled, it wasn't the term surrealism itself he disovered, and he
wasn't alone during the formation of it either. I guess
we must admit that its a little more grey than black and white, and in
doing so we don't have to discount all of his major contributions, but
again, Breton ='s not surrealism.
john
Dale Houstman
>
>
> Again, to point to the original wording "And since surrealism was
> discovered by and defined at great length by one man, that answers
> your first question" (what is surrealism?) - the nomenclature of course
comes
> from Apollinaire and all the many facets that were coming
> together were not really pulled in by Breton alone.
Apollinaire supplied a word that Breton used in a very different manner:
nomenclature - by contrast - is a system of naming, which Breton did.
>We have to
> consider Dada, and all of the predating lineage and thought, and the fact
that
> Aragon and Souppalt were co-creators from the beginning and
> then Eluard as well. Then we have all of the contributing "members",
> and this isn't taking into consideration all the players on the side. Yes,
> it's true Breton offered much in the way of philosophical steam and a
> kind of glue througout the years. Who's to say it wouldn't have evolved
> along similar lines without him? As someone once said here, it's mere
mystical
> speculation to consider that it wouldn't have, or along those
> lines.
It still doesn't change the fact that Breton "discovered" surrealism (a
better word in this regard than "invented"); Columbus' "discovery" of
America doesn't mean that the land mass didn't pre-exist his finding it, it
merely means that - as a representative of an organizing principle (European
imperialism) - he created a new entirety of old pieces that became America.
No one is denying that the many parts and processes that are surrealism
didn't predate Breton (noting that isn't there can be discovered), but he
did pull these disparate things together and give them a name. This is
discovery.
>
> So to say he discovered it, like the transitor was discovered, was an
> over-simplification, because for instance, it wasn't automatism he
discovered,
> or even labeled, it wasn't the term surrealism itself he disovered, and he
> wasn't alone during the formation of it either. I guess
> we must admit that its a little more grey than black and white, and in
> doing so we don't have to discount all of his major contributions, but
> again, Breton ='s not surrealism.
>
And Columbus isn't America. But surrealism was discovered by Breton, despite
the fact portions of it pre-existed his attnetions, and despite the fact
that it has changed since, even in his lifetime. Neither of these facts - I
think - bears on the question. It isn't a matter of ownership by the way;
discovery doesn't necessarily equate with any proprietary stance. Breton
doesn't "own" surrealism (that honor probably falls to Sony by now). But
almost all of the early theoretical texts pertaining to a definition of
surrealism are by Breton, and he drew the idea of "umor" (certainly not
original at any rate, but again given a name and a centrality by Breton)
from an acquaintence, and he was certainly the main glue of the enterprise
(or - at times- its solvent).
I just don't see any problem with the word "discovery."
dmh
john adams
oblique comparisons. I feel the naming of the "discoverer" in this
manner is irrelevant anyway. The original post: " what is surrealism?
does an answer even matter? art is a personal journey. It goes under
again all questions are. Whereas surrealism resists forms and
formulas, and in a way i think, atleast, he was alluding to that sentiment.
What's with all the metaphysicalaphobia? Why is something new age
all the sudden if it isn't permanently set into mortar? [ref. - "BTW: even
art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age "whatever"
attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to flush the
baby out with the blather."
"Dale Houstman" <dm...@citilink.com> wrote in message news:3b06090b$0$327$65a9...@news.citilink.com...
C.Francis
C.Francis
C.Francis
Dale Houstman
>we can say surrealism is of this and that. Who cares. All i meant is that
if i am writing a book i >dont think like a postmodernist rah rah. I try for
a perfection that is in my head that i can smell. >that is what i am after.
Your head smells?
I guess...
But I don't see what is especially wrong about discussing things. Certainly,
when one is creating something all these nonmenclatures and sub-divisions
are pointless. But - unfortunately or not - they remain useful when one is
in discussions, if only because they form a basically agreed-upon set of
contexts and terminology. Otherwise nothing can be usefully explored. It
isn't as if we were all staring wistfully into one another's eyes, not
having to speak because "we know what is in the other's heart and mind." To
go along with your idea, one might not wish to identify the species, size,
color and so on of a missing cat in a lost and found column, because such
distinctions are not what made you love the missing animal. All well and
good, but you'll never get that cat back, for all your intellectual
integrity. For the task of discussion between strangers, a certain degree of
"naming" is necessary, even if those names can be - in turn - debated.
dmh
Dale Houstman
>you are standing in the way of evolution. Stand aside your ideas are dead
and you are over-reacting to almost nothing.
dmh
Dale Houstman
even art goes under titles: many in fact. These vague New Age
"whatever" attitudes were still-born before they were conceived. Time to
flush the baby out with the blather.
>are you serious? why might art need to go under a title? Im not even sure
if it is worth explaining if >you believe should go under titles.
Didn't say they "had" to go under titles. Just said they did. An
observation, not a promotion.
dmh
Parry
> you are standing in the way of evolution.
Please evolve your e-mail so that it posts in plain-text. Depending on
which news reader I use, your messages are either crammed with html gunk
or there’s no message at all.
> Stand aside your ideas are dead
I think it was Charles Fort who asked “can ideas die?” then answered
“no.”
-- Parry
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john adams
"C.Francis" <claytf...@one.net.au> wrote in message
>I try for a perfection that is in my head that i can smell. that is what i am after.
What would you charge someone to do a self-portrait?
john
john adams
"Parry" <pa...@perfectOMITmail.com> wrote in message news:3B122F...@perfectOMITmail.com...
> C.Francis wrote:
>
> > you are standing in the way of evolution.
>
> Please evolve your e-mail so that it posts in plain-text. Depending on
> which news reader I use, your messages are either crammed with html gunk
> or there's no message at all.
Jesus Parry, isn't about time you updated your browser from original eudora yet?
You're holding the whole newsgroup down because of your lazy nostalgia.
john
Scorn Mandible
I am serious about art for the badgers steak.
"david neal" <david-...@beeb.net> wrote in message
news:9dmaia$1470$1...@news.beeb.net...
Scorn Mandible
Surrealism was born of Dada.
Dada was born of War.
War is born of the sentiments expressed in the posting I refer to.
"C.Francis" <claytf...@one.net.au> wrote in message
news:3b10d...@news01.one.net.au...
you are standing in the way of evolution. Stand aside your ideas are dead
Scorn Mandible
thats always been there. Just ask Georgio De Chirico.
"Dale Houstman" <dm...@citilink.com> wrote in message
news:3b06090b$0$327$65a9...@news.citilink.com...
john adams
> thats always been there. Just ask Georgio De Chirico.
Georgio said the same to me briefly; we were dining for two at the
end of a paris runway, it was raining heavily: I thought I would catch the clap.
We hailed a slow cab instead.
Dale Houstman
"Scorn Mandible" <ccan...@pacific.net.au> wrote in message
news:aMQ97.1221$Kn3.1...@nostril.pacific.net.au...
> How can you discover Surrealism? It's only a matter of recognising
something
> thats always been there. Just ask Georgio De Chirico.
>
(and named) recognition of those elements has dates attached to it.
How can one "discover" the existence of oxygen, since it's always been
there?
It's simple: discovery is not the same thing as invention. Pre-existing
things can be discovered.
dmh