Surrealism, Politics and Culture

This title was first published in 2003. Drawing on literary, art historical and historical studies, this essay collection explores the complex encounter between culture and politics within Surrealism. The Surrealist movement was one of the first cultural movements to question explicitly the relation between culture and politics, and its attempt to fuse social and cultural revolution has been a critical factor in shaping our sense of modernity. This anthology addresses not only the contested ground between culture and politics within Surrealism itself, and within the subsequent historical accounts of the movement, but also the broader implications of this encounter on our own sense of modernity. Its goal is to delineate the role of radical politics in shaping the historical trajectory of Surrealism.

Raymond Spiteri and Donald Lacoss

General Editors' Preface, List of Illustrations, List of Contributors, Acknowledgments, List of Abbreviations, Introduction: Revolution by Night: Surrealism, Politics and Culture, 1 The Politics of Surrealism, 1920-36, 2 Towards a New Construction: Breton's Break with Dada and the Formation of Surrealism, 3 Surrealism and the Political Physiognomy of the Marvellous, 4 Advertising Surrealist Masculinities: Andre Kertesz in Paris, 5 Surrealism Noir, 6 Surrealist Racial Politics at the Borders of 'Reason': Whiteness, Primitivism and Negritude, 7 Painting and Politics: Miro's Still Life with Old Shoe and the Spanish Republic, 8 Of Politics, Postcards and Pornography: Salvador Dali's Le Mythe tragique de l'Angelus de Millet, 9 Surrealism in 1938: The Exhibition at War, 10 For an Independent Revolutionary Art: Breton, Trotsky and Cardenas's Mexico, 11 Aime Cesaire's Insurrectionary Poetics, 12 Hans Bellmer's Libidinal Politics, 13 Attacks of the Fantastic, 14 Failure and Community: Preliminary Questions on the Political in the Culture of Surrealism, Appendix I: Notes in the Hand of Leon Pierre-Quint Being the Record of a Conversation, Index