Tran slated lr om the F r ench bY

Richard Seauer and

HelenR.Lane ffiffiffiffi ffi ffiffi ffiffi

Ann ArborPaperbacks TheUniversity of MichiganPress [ndn6Brcton CONTENTS

Prefacefor a Reprintof the Manlfesto(1929) vii First edition as an Ann Arbor paperback 1972 (1924) 1 Copyr;ght @ by The Unioersity of Michigan 1969 Manileslool Surrealism All rights reserued Fish(1924) 49 ISBN 0-472-06182-8 Soluble Published in the United States of America by Prefacefor the New Editionof the Second 7-he Uniuersity of Michigan Press Manifesto(1946) 111 Oiginally published in Paris, France, by Jean-Jacques Pauuert editeur as Manifestes du Sunealisme SecondManifesto of Surrealism(1930) 117 copyr;ght @ chez J.-J. Pauuert 1962. Manufactured in the United States of America A Letterto Seers(1925) 195 (extracts) 205 Booh design by Quentin Fiore PoliticalPosition of Surrealism Preface(1935) 207 1994 1993 1992 1991 16 15 14 13 PoliticalPosition of Today'sArt (1935) 212 Speechto the Congressof Writers(1935) 234 (1935) 249 On the TimeWhen the SurrealistsWere Right SurrealistSituation of the Object(1935) 255 Prolegomenato a Third SurrealistManifesto or Not ('t942) 279 On Surrealismin lts LivingWorks (1953) 295 Manifestoes of Surrealism Manifesto of Surrealism assured me with a boatload of madmen. And note how this madness ValCry who, some time ago, speaking o[ novels' to re' has taken shape,and endured. that, io far as he was concerned, he would continue But frain from writing: "The Marquise went out at five"' has he kept his word? It is not the fear of madness which will oblige us to leave If the purely informative style, of which the sentence rather the flag of imagination furled. jrrst q,rot.d is a prime examPle, is virtually the rule in all The case against the realistic attitude demands to be in"r, ,n. excePtion in the novel form, it is because' examined, following the case against the materialistic atti- fairness, the iuthor's ambition is severely circumscribed' each tude. The latter, more poetic in fact than the former, ad- The circumstantial, needlessly specific nature of mittedly implies on the part of man a kind of rnonstrous of their notations leads me to believe that they are PerPe- one of pride which, admittedly, is monstrous, but not a new and trating a joke at my expense' I am spared not even more complete decay. It should above all be viewed as a the ch-aracter'sslightesivacillations: will he be fairhaired? the welcome reaction against certain ridiculous tendencies of what will his name be? will we first meet him during for all' as spiritualism. Finally, it is not incompatible with a cerrain summer? So many questions resolved once and is to nobility of thought. chance directs; the only discretionary Power left me in the By contrast, the realistic attitude, inspired by posi- close the book, which I am careful to do somewhere is tivism, from Saint Thomas Aquinas to Anatole France, vicinity of the first page. And the descriptionsl There clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or nothing to which their vacuity can be compared; they are from moral advancement. I loathe it, for it is made up of medi- nothing but so many suPerimposed images taken and ocrity, hate, and dull conceit. It is this atrirude which today some siock catalogue, wtriih the author utilizes more gives birth to these ridiculous books, these insulting plays. more whenever he chooses;he seizesthe opportunity to slip It constantly feeds on and derives strengrh from the news- me his postcards,he tries to make me agree with him about papers and stultifies both science and art by assiduously the clichds: flattering the lowest of tastes; clarity bordering on stu- the young nxanw&s shown pidity, a dog's life. The activity of the best minds feels the The small roonx into which there were geraniums eftects of it; the law of the Iowest common denominator wascovered with yeilow wallpaper: with muslin curtai'ns; finally prevails upon them as it does upon the others. An in the windows, which were coaered ouer the entire setting' amusing result of this state of aftairs, in literature for ex- the setting sun casta harsh light ' ' ' room' The ample, is the generous supply of novels. Each person adds There wi nothing specialabout the furniture' A sofa with a tall bach his personal little "observation" to the whole. As a cleans- of yellow wood', wai aII aery old' the sofa, a dressing ing antidote to all this, M. Paul ValCry recenrly suggested tuined, down, an oval table opposite the pierglass, sonl'e chairs that an anthology be compiled in which the largest possible table and a mirror set against ol no ualue portray' number of opening passagesfrom novels be offered; the along the walls, two or three etchings birds in their hands-such resulting insanity, he predicted, would be a source of con- ing iome German girts with siderable edification. The most famous authors would be were the lurnishings.* included. Such a thought reflects great credit on Paul *Dostoevski,Crime and Punishment' 8 Manifestoes of Surrealism Manifesto of Surrealism I

I am in no mood to admit that the mind is interested cough, every wipe of the nose, every sneeze.. . ."* If in a in occupying itself with such matters, even fleetingly. It may cluster of grapes there are no two alike, why do you want be argued that this school-boydescription has its place,and me to describe this grape by the other, by all the others, that at this juncture of the book the author has his reasons why do you want me to make a palatable grape? Our brains for burdening me. Nevertheless he is wasting his time, for I are dulled by the incurable mania of wanting to make the refuse to go into his room. Others' lazinessor fatigue does untnown known, classifiable.The desire for analysis wins not interest me. I have too unstablea notion of the continu- out over the sentiments.** The result is statementsof un- ity of life to equare or compare my moments of depression due length whose persuasivePower is attributable solely to or weakness with my best moments. When one ceasesto their strangenessand which impress the reader only by the feel, I am of the opinion one should keep quiet. And I abstract quality of their vocabulary, which moreover is ill- would like .it understood that I am not accusing or con- defined. If the general ideas that philosophy has thus far demning lack of originality as such. I am only saying that come up with as topics of discussionrevealed by their very I do not take particular note of the empty moments of my nature their definitive incursion into a broader or more liie, that it may be unworthy for any man ro crystallize general area, I would be the first to greet the news with thosewhich seem ro him to be so. I shall, with yorrr permis- joy. But up till now it has been nothing but idle rePartee; sron, ignore the description of that room, and many more the flashesof wit and other nicetiesvie in concealingfrom like it. us the true thought in searchof itself, instead of concentrat- Not so fast, there; I'm getting into the area of psy- ing on obtaining successes.It seemsto me that every act is chology, a subject abotrt which I shall be careful nor to its own justifrcation, at least for the Personwho has been joke. capableof committing it, ttrat it is endowed with a radiant The author attacksa characterand, this beine settled power which the slightest glossis certain to dirninish. Be- upon, parades his hero to and fro acrossthe world. No cause of this gloss, it even in a senseceases to happen. It matter what happens, this hero, rvhoseactions and reac- gains nothing to be thus distinguished. .Stendhal'sheroes tions are admirably predictable, is cornpellednot ro thwart are subject to the comments and appraisals-appraisals or upset-even though he looks as though he is-the calcula- which are more or less successfrtl-madeby that author, tions of which he is the object. The currents of life can which add not one whit to their glory. Where we really find appear to lift him up, roll him over, casr him down, he them again is at the point at which Stendhal has lost them. will still belong ro this read,ymadehuman type. A simple game of chesswhich doesn't interest me in the least-man, whoever he may be, being for me a mediocre opponenr. We are still living under the reign of logic: this, of course, age What I cannot bear are those wretched discussionsrelative is what I have been driving at. But in this day and to such and such a move, since winning or losing is not logical methods are applicable only to solving problems that is still in question. And if the game is not worrh the candle, of secondaryinterest. The absolute rationalism if objective reason does a frightful job-as indeed it does in vogue allows tts to consider only facts relating directly escaPe -of serving hirn who calls upon it, is it not fitring and to our experience. Logical ends, on the contrary, proper to avoid all contact with these categories?"Diver- * Pascal. sity is so vast that every different tone of voice, every step, *fBarrts, Proust. Manifesto of Surrealism l l lo Manifestoeso[ Surrealism rnan's birth until his death, thought offers no solution of continuity, the sum of the moments of dream, from the point of view of time, and taking into consideration only the time of pure dreaming, that is the dreams of sleep,is not inferior to the sum of the moments of reality, or, to be more precisely limiting, the moments of waking) has still today been so grossly neglected. I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so mtrch more credence and attaches so mttch more importance to waking events than to those occtrrring^in drearns. It is becauseman, when he ceasesto sleep,is above all the play- thing of his mernory, and in its normal statemenrory takes pleasure in weakly retracing for him the circumstancesof the dream, in stripping it of any real importance, and in dismissing the only cleterminant from the point where l'le thinks he has left it a few hours before: ttris firm hope, this discoveriesa current of opinion is finally forming by means in- concern. He is rrnder the impression of continuing some- of which the human explorer will be able to carry his thing that is rvorthwhile. Tlrtrs the drearn finds itself re- vestigationsmuch further, authorized as he rvill henceforth dtrced to a rnere parenthesis,as is the niglrt. And, like the be not to confine himself solely to the most sr'tmmaryreal- night, dreams generally contribrrte little to furthering^our ities. The imagination is perhaps on the point of reassert- trnderstanding^.This curious stateof affairsse€rns to lne to ing itself,of reilaiming its rights. If the depthsof our mind call for certain reflections: contain within it strange forces capable of augnrenting thoseon the surface,or of waging a victorious battle against r) Within the lirnits rvhere they operate (or are seize them, there is every reason to seize them-first to thought to operate) dreams give every evidence of being them, then, if need be, to submit them to the control of our continuous and show signsof organization. Memory alone by reason.The analyststhemselves l-rave everything to gain arrogates to itself the rig^ht ro excerpr from dreams, to it. Btrt it is worth noting that no meanshas beetr designated ignore the transitions, and to depict for trs rather a series a priori for carrying otlt this undertaking, that trntil ftrr- o[ drearnsthan the drearnitself .By r]resame token, ar any ther notice it can be construed to be the province of poets given moment rve have only a disrinct r-rorionof realities, as rvell as scholars,and that its sttccessis not dependent the coordination of which is a quesrion of rvill.* What is upon the more or less capriciol'rsPaths that will be fol- r.\ccourrt rnrrst bc taken of the depth of the drearn. For the lowed. nrost part I retain only what I can glean from its most superficial layers. What I most enj<>ycorrternplating about a dreanr is every- thing that sinks back belLouis Aragon leaving; he only must be made a trifle more subtle the older we grow, and has time enough to say hello; Philippe Soupault gets up we are still at the stageof waiting for this kind of spider. . . . with the stars,and Paul Eluard, our great Eluard, has not But the faculties do not change radically. Fear, the attrac- yet come home. There are Robert Desnosand Roger Vitrac tion of the unusual, chance,the tastefor things extravagant out on the grounds poring over an ancient edict on duel- are all deviceswhich we can always call upon without fear ing; GeorgesAuric, Jean Paulhan; Max Morise, who rows of deception. There are fairy tales to be written for adults, so well, and Benjamin Piret, busy with his equations with fairy talesstill almost blue. birds; and Joseph Delteil; and Jean Carrive; and Georges Limbour, and Georges Limbours (there is a whole hedge The marvelous is not the samein every period of history: it of GeorgesLimbours); and Marcel Noll; there is T. Fraen- partakesin some obscure way of a sort of general revelation kel waving to us from his captive balloon, GeorgesMalkine, are only the fragments of which come down to us: they Antonin Artatrd, Francis G6rard, Pierre Naville, J.-A. Boif- the romantic rttins, the modern mannequin, or any other fard, and after them JacquesBaron and his brother, hand- symbol capable of affecting the human sensibility for a someand cordial, and so many others besides,and gorgeous period of time. In these areaswhich make us snrile, there women, I might add. Nothing is too good for theseyoung is still portrayed the incurable human restlessness,and this men, their wishes are, as to wealth, so many commands. is why I take them into considerationand why I judge them Francis Picabia comes to pay us a call, and last week, in inseparable from certain prodtrctions of genius which are, the hall of rnirrors, rve receiveda certain Marcel Drrchamp more than the others, painfully affiicted by them. They are whom we had not hitherto known. Picassogoes hunting in Villon's gibbets, Racine's Greeks, Baudelaire's couches. the neighborhood. The spirit of demorulization haselected They coincide with an eclipseof the taste I am made to domicile in the castle,and it is with it rve have to deal every endure, I whose notion of taste is the image of a big spot. time it is a qtrestion of contact with or.rr fellowmen, but Amid the bad taste of my time I strive to go further than the doors are alrvays open, and one does not begin by anyone else. It wotrld have been I, had I lived in r8zo, I "thanking" everyone,you know. Moreover, the solitude is "the bleeding nun," I who would not have spared this vast, we don't often run into one another. And anyway, cunning and banal "let trs conceal" whereof the parodical isn't what rnatters that we be the mastersof ourselves,tl're Cuisin speaks,it would have been I, I who would have rev- mastersof wclmen,and of love too? eled in the enormous metaphors, as he says,all phasesof I shall be proved guilty of poetic dishonesty:everyone the "silver disk." For today I think of a caslle,half of rvhich will go parading about saying rhar I live on the rue Fon- is not necessarilyin rrrins; this castle belongs to me, I pic- taine* and that he will have none of the rvarer that flows ture it in a rustic settins, not far from Paris.The outbuild- therefrom. To be srrrel But is he certain that this castle ings are too numerous to mention, and, as for the interior, it has been frightfully restored,in such a manner as to leave *Bretorr's pun elucles transla!ion: Forrtairre:Fountain.-Tr r8 Manifestoesof Surrealism Manifesto of Surrealism rg into which I cordially invite him is an image?What if this there. Besides,one is never sure of really being there. If castle really existedt My guestsare there to prove it does; one is going to all thar trouble, one might jusr as well stop their whim is the luminous road that leadsto it. We really off somewhere else. Be that as it may, the fact is that the live by our fantasies when we give free rein to them. And way to these regions is clearly marked, and that to atrain how could what one might do bother the ottrer, there, the true goal is now merely a [tarter of rhe travelers,abiliry safely sheltered from the sentimental pursuit and at the to endure, trysting place of opportunities?

We are all more or less aware of the road traveled. I was careful to relate, in Man proposesand disposes.He and he alone can determine the collrse of a study of the caseof Robert Desnos whether he is completely masterof himself, that is, whether entitled r,nrnfn tns vrforuus,* that I had been led "concentrate he maintains the body of his desires,daily more formida- to my attention on lhe more or less partial senrences ble, in a state of anarchy. Poetry teacheshim to. It bears which, when one is quite alone and on the verge within itself the perfect compensation for the miseries we of falling asleep,become perceprible for the mind without endure. It can also be an organizer, if ever, as the result of its being possible ro discclver what provoked them." a less intirnate disappointment, we contemplate raking it I had then just attempted the poetic adventure with the minimum seriously. The time is coming when it decreesthe end of of risks, that is, my aspirationswere the same as they money and by itself will break the bread of heavenfor the are today but I rrusred in the slublishetl by N. R. F. Manifesto of Surrealism z r Manifestoes of Surrealism time. But the image eluded me. Reverdy's aesthetic, a I was obliged to keep hidden from the that I believed completely a posteriori aesthetic,led me to mistake the ef- deceit on my part, but my love of shock- reader. It was not fectsfor the causes.It was in the midst of all this that I re- I had the illusion of a possiblecomplicity' ing the reader. nounced irrevocabiyrny point of view. had be- which I had more and more difficulty giving up' I gun to cherish words excessivelyfor the spacethey allow other iround them, for their tangencies with cotlntless derives evening, therefore, before I fell asleep,I perceived,so words that I dicl not utter. The poem BLAcKFoRES'r One to clearly articulated that it was impossible to changea word, precisely frorn this state of mind' It took rne six months rest but nonethelessremoved from the sound of any voice, a write it, and you may take my word for it that I did not rather which came to rne without any ap- a single day. But this stemmed from the opinion I had-of strange phrase judge in which, my consciotts- *yr.l"f in rhose days, which was high, pleasedon't parent relationship to the events to me too harshly. I enjoy these stupid confessions'At that nessagrees, I was then involved, a phrasewhich seemed btrt me insistent,a if I may be so bold, tuhich was hnoch- point cubist pseudo-poetrywas trying to get a foothold' phrase, I it and it had emerged deienselessfrom Picasso'sbrain' and ing at the windou.I took crlrsorynote of prepared a to move its my attention. was thought to be asdull asdishwater (and still am)' I had on lvhen organic charactercaught of Actually, this phraseastonished me: trnfortunatelyI cannot sneaking suspicion, moreover, that from the viewpoint as remember it but it rvassomething like: "There is poetry itu, off on the wrong road, but I hedgedmy bet exactly, and a man cr.rtin two by the window," but there could be no Lest t could, defying lyricism with salvosof definitions accornpaniedas it rvasby the falnt formulas (the Dada phenomena rverewaiting in the wings' question of ambiguity, an visual a man walking half way up by a ready to come on stage)and pretending to search for image* of cut advertising (I went so tar as to application of poetry to I a painter, this visual depictiort woultl cloubtless havc' good book but 'Were ciaim that the lvorld would' end, trot with a become nrore irrrportarrt for nre than the other- lt was n)ost certairrly rvith a beautiful advertisement for heaven or for hell)' rny previous predispositions which decidetl the rr atter. Since that day, In those clays,a nlan at least as borine as I' Pierre I have harl occasion to c()nrentrate nry unention rrrltrrrtarily

scene piled upon scene,the action unfolded, one retort after anorher through my rniud. welled up in nry mind, I was enjoying rnyself immensely. Thoughts ;suclclenly a lcw good fragmettts citme to rrrilrcl,quite srritablc came to me so rapidly and continued to flow so abundantly that I lost to be used in a rough draft, or serialized; all of a sudden I found' a whole host of delicate details, becausemy pencil could not keep up quite by chance, beautiful phrases such as I had never 1>hrases, with them, and yet I went as fast as I could, my hand in constant written.' I repeated tltem to myself slowly, word by word; they motion, I did not lose a mintr[e The sentencescontinued to well up were excellent. Antl there were still ttlore coming' I got up and nry within me, I was pregnant with my subject." picked up a pencil antl sonte paper that were on a table behind Led. It was ai though some vein hatl burst within rne, one wortl fol- Apollinaire asserted that Chirico's first paintings were done lowecl another, Iound its proper plerce,adaptetl itself to the sittration' under the influence of cenesthcsic disorders (migraines, colics, etc.). 24 ' Manifest<-resof Surrealisnt Manifesto of Surrealism zb offering this one slight criticism, from the fact that he had probably have taken over the word sUIERNATURALTsMem- at made the error of Putting a few words by way of titles ployed by Girard de Nerval in his dedication to the Filles mystifica- tee the top of certain Pages,I supposein a spirit of de feu.* It appears,in fact, that Nerval possessedto a tion. On the ocher hand, I must give credit where credit is the spirit with which we claim a kinship, Apollinaire hav- due and say that he constantly and vigorously opposedany ing possessed,on the contrary, naught but the letter, srill effort to retouch or correct, however slightly, any Passage imperfect, of Surrealism, having shown himself powerless of this kind which seemed to me uufortunate. In this he to give a valid theoretical idea of it. Here are two passages was, to be sure, absolutely right'* It is, in fact, difficult to by Nerval which seemto me to be extremely significant in appreciate fairly the various elements Present; one may this respect: even go so far as to say that it is impossible to appreciate I am going to explain to you, my dear Dumas, them at a first reading. To you who write, theseelements the phenomenon of which you have spoken a short are, on the surface,as strange to yott as they are to anyone while ago. There are, as you know, certain storytellers else, and naturally you are wary of them. Poetically speak- who cannot invent without identifying with the char- ing, what strikes you about them above all is their extrenxe acterstheir imagination hasdreamt up. You may recall d.egreeof immediate abstLrdity,the quality of this absr'rrd- how convincingly our old friend Nodier trsed to tell ity, upon closer scrutiny, being to give rvay to everything how it had been his misfortr.rneduring the Revolution admissible, everything legitimate in the world: the dis- to be guillotined; one becameso completely convinced closure of a certain number of properties and of facts no of what tre wassaying that one beganto wonder how he lessobjective, in the final analysis,than tl.reothers' had rnanagedto havehis headglued back on. In homage to Cuillaume Apollinaire, who had just . . . And since you have been indiscreet enough died and who, on severaloccasions, seerned to lrs to have to quote one of the sonnetscomposed in this supER- followed a discipline of this kind, rvithortt horveverhaving NATURALrsrrcdream-state, as the Germans would call sacrificedto it any mediocre literary means,Soupault and I it, you rvill haveto hear them all. You will find them at the end of the volume. They are hardly any more baptized the new mode of Pttre exPressionwhich we had at orlr disposal and rvhich we rvished to Passon to otlr obscure than Hegel's memphysics or Swedenborg's friends, by the natne of suRREALIsM'I believe that there is MENToRABTLTR,and would lose their charm if they were no point today in dwelling any further on this word and explained, if such were possible; at least admit the that the meaning we gaveit initially hasgenerally prevailed rvorth of the expression. .** over its Apollinarian sense.To be even fairer, we could

+l believe trtore attcl more in the infallibility of rny thought Those who might dispute our right to employ the terrn with resl>ect to myself, antl this is r

be, up to the presenttime, the only ones,and They seem to I would like to stressrhis point: they are not alrvaysSur- about it were it not for the there would be no ambigtrity realists,in that I discern in each of them a certain number whom I lack information. case of Isidore l)ucasse,about of preconceived icleasto which-very naively!-they hold. judge them only strperficiallyby And, of course, if one is to They hold to them becausethey had not heard the Srn'real- of poemcould passfor Srrrreal- their results,a good number ist aoice, the one that continues to preach on the eve of his finer moments,Shake- ists,beginning with Dante and, in death and above the stonns, becdtrsethey drd nor rvant ro the uariottsuttempts I haue made to speare.In the courseol servesimply to orchestratethe marvelorrsscore. They rvere trust, called genius, I haae reduce what is, by breach ol instruments too ftrll of pride, and this is tvhy they have analysiscan be attributed f ound nothing which in the final not alwaysprodrrced a harmoniorrssound.* rnetltod,than that. to any other But we, who have made no effort whatsoeverto filter, rvho in our works have made ourselvesinto sirnple recep- Young's Nights are Surrealist frotn one end to the other; unfortunately it is a priest who is speaking,a bad priest no fI could say the saureof a number of philosophers and painters, doubt, but a priestnonetheless. incltrding, among these latter, Uccello, frorn painters of tlte past, an

Poetic Surrealism,which is the subject of this study, hasfocused its effortsup to this point on reestablishingdia_ logue in its absolute truth, by freeing both interlocutors from any obligations of politeness.Each of rhem simply q:rlsueshis soliloquy without trying to derive ur-,y,p..iui dialectical pleasure from it and wirhout trying to impose anything wharsoeverupon his neighbor. The remarks ex- changed are nor, as is generally the case,meant to develop some thesis,however unimportant it may be; thev ur. u, disaffected as possible.As for the reply that they eticit, it is, in principle, totally indifferent to th. p.rronal pride of the person speaking. The words, rhe irnages o.rly so many springboards "r. for rhe mind of the listener. ln Lis Champs magnitiques, the first purely Surrealisr work, this is the which the yuy i" pagesgrouped rogerher under the tirle Barriires musr be conceived of_pages wherein Soupault ing the last word spoken in his presenceor [he last portion and I show ourselvesto be impartial lnterlocutors. in of the Surrealist sentencesome trace of which he finds his mind. q. "Howoldare you?" a. "You"'(Echolalia') q. "What is your name?" e. "Forty-five houses"' (Gartser Surrealism does not allow rhosewho devote themselvesto or beside'the'pointreplies') it to syndrorne, forsake it whenever they like. There is every reason of Surrealism Manifesto 36 Manifestoes of Surrealism Z7 mind very much as drugs do; First to believe that it acts on the of all, it has seized nothing consciously.It is, as it state of need and can push were, like drugs, it createsa certain from the fortuitous juxraposition of the two terms also is' if you like' an artificial that man to frighttul revolts' It a particular light has sp.ung, the light of the image, to has for it derives from Bau- which paradise, u-rra tn. taste one we are infinitely sensitive.The vatue of the i.rrug. reason as the others' Thus depends ielaire's criticism for the same upon the beauty of the spark obtained; it is, con_ and specialpleasures it sequently, the analysisof the mysteriouseffects a function of the differenceof potential between Surrealism occurs as a new the can produce-in many resPects two conductors. When the difference exisrs onlv seemto be restricted to the slightly, uice which does not necessarily as in a comparison,* the spark is lacking. Now, it the ability to satisfyall man- is not nuppy few; Iike hashish,it has within man's power, so far as I can tell, to effect the has to be incltrded in the juxtaposirion ner of tastes-such an analysis of two realities so far apart. The principle of present.studY. the associarionof ideas,such as rve conceive oi it, it is of opium tatesagainst it. Or elsewe would have to revert ^lti- r. It is true of Surrealist images as to an ellip- "come to tical art, rvhich Revercly deplores as man doesnot evoke them; rather they much as I. We are imagesthat therefore chase them obliged to admit that the rwo terms of the hirn" spontaneously, despotically' He cannot image controls are nor deduced one from the other will is powerlessnow and.no longer by the mind for the u*uy, fo, the specific whether imageshave purpose of producing the spark, thar they are rhe the faculties."* It remarns to be seen simultaneous products of the "evoked"' If one accePts'as I do' Reverdy's activity I call Surrealist, ever been reason's bring together' vol- role being lirnited to taking note of, and definition it does not seem possibleto appre- The juxta- ciating, rhe luminous phenornenon. what he calls "two distant realities"' untarily, jusr is the long and the And as the length of the spark increasesto position is made or not made, and that the to believe that' in extent that it occurs in rarefied gases,the Surrealist short of it. Personally,I absolutelyrefuse atmo_ spherecreated by autonratic tvriting, rvhich ReverdY'swork, imagessuch as I have wanted to put within the reachof everyoue,is especiallyconducive the brooh, there is a song tlrut flows to the In production of the mosr beautifui i,nag.r. One can even go so far as to say rhar in or: this dizzying race the images appear like the only guideposrsof the mind. By slow de_ Dayunf olded lihe a white tablecloth grees the mind becomesconvinced of the supreme reality of these images. Ar first or: limiting itself to sr.rbrnittingto them, it soon realizes that they flatter irs reason, and in- The uorld goesbach into a sach crease its knowledge accordingly.The mind becornesaware In my opinion' of the limitless reveal the slightestdegree of prerneditation' expanseswherein its desiresare rnade mani_ l'rasgrasped the re- fest, where it is erroneo.,, to.loi"* thatl'the rnind the pros ancl cons are constantly consumed, o[ each other' where lationship" of two realities in the Presence its obscurity does not betray it. It goes forward, *Cornpare +Baudelaire. rhe image in rhe lvork of Jules Renard. Manifesto 38 Manifestoes of Surrealism of Surrealism gg but it's doubtless borne by these images which enraPture it' which scarcely but a mist of blood, and murd,er_the This glearning glass leave it any time to blow upon the fire in its fingers' of liberty,s disturbances. (rours nnacoN) night: is the most beautiful night of all, the lightning-filled In the lorest aflame day, compared to it, is night. The a lions were lresh. (nonrnr vrrnac) The countless kinds of Surrealist images would require I do not intend to make today' To The color classification which of a utornan's stochingsis not necessarilyin to their particular affinities would the liheness ol her group them according eyes,which led, a"philosopher who it is I basically want to mention is their pointless to ,,Cefhalopods iead *e far afield; what mention, to say: have more con- common virtue. For me, their greatest virtue' I must reasonsto hate progressthan do quadrupeis.,, the fess, is the one that is arbitrary to the highest degree' luex vromsn) takes the longest time to translate into practical one that rst. Whether we like it or nor, there is enough rhere to satisfy several demands of the mind. All rhese-images seem ro artest to the fact that the mind is ripe for sorie- thing more than the benign joys it allows itseif in general. This is the only way it has of turning ro irs own advantage the ideal quantity of events with w-hicn it is entrusted.* These gives imagesshow it the extent of its ordinary of a hallucinatory kind, or becauseit very naturally dissiparion and the drawbacks that it offers for it. the mask of the corrcrete,or the opposite'or In the final analysis, to the abstract it's nor physi- such a bad thing for theselmages ro upser becauseit implies the negation of some elementary the mind, for to upset rhe mind is it provokes laughter' Here' in to pur it in the wrong. The sen_ cal property, or because tences I quote make ample provision for this. are a few examPlesof it: Brrr the mind order, which relishes them draws rherefrom the conviction rhat ir- t: o" the right trach; on its own, the mind The ruby of champagne' (lnurnfnr"IoNr) is incapable of finding itself guilty of cavil; it has nothing to fear, since, the Beautilul as the law of arrested deaelopment of moreov€r,it attempts to embraceeverything. pro- breast in adults,whose propensity to gtowth is not in znd. The mind which plunges ol molecu'lesthat their organism into Surrealism re- portion to the qtruntity liveswith glowing exciremenrin. U.r, part of its childhood. assimilates. (raurnfnuonr) For such a mind, it is similar ro rhe ..rtainty with which sournulr) a person who A church stood.dazzling as a bell' (rurlteee is drowning reviews once more, in the space of lessthan a second,all the a rnsurmounrabre moments of In Rrose Selavy'ssleep there is a dwarf issued from DESNoS) *Ler us not forget .,rhere well who cornesto eat her bread at nigftt' (nonnRT rhat, according to Novalis, lormula, are series of events which run paraltel ro real evenrs. Men and cir_ head of a tabby cat cumsrancesgenerally On the bridge the dew with the modify the ideal train of circumsrances,so rhar it seems imperfect; and their consequences are also equalty lutls itsell to sleep. (nnonf nneror) 'fhus imperfect. it was with the Reformationi prorestanrism, instead of we gor I see- Lutheranism." A little to the lelt, in rny firmament foretold' l\{anifestoesof Surrealism 40 Manifesto of Surrealism 4r the his life. Some may say to me that the parallel is not very balance of this volume offer me a glaring proof of what encouraging. But I have no intention of encouragingthose I am saying. I do not judge ,h.- ,o'b. worrh- who tell me that. From childhood memories, and from a less,because of that, in-poitraying,for "rry rn..."der-or. the bene- few others, there emanatesa sentiment of being uninte- fits which the Surrealiri.onrriU,ii._ ir'liuur. to make to grated, and then later of having gorte astray,rvhich I hold his consciousness. to be the most fertile that exists. It is perhaps childhood Surrealist methods would, moreover, demand to be that comes closest to one's "real life"; childhood beyond heard. Everythins is valid when it ;.r';, obtaining his laissez-passer, desired suddenne-ss the which man has at his disposal,aside from from certain associarions. of paper picasso The pieces only a few complimentary tickets; childhood where every- that and Braque i"r..,-i.rro their work thing neverthelessconspires to bring abotrt the effective, have the samevalue as the introiuction of a platitude a literary into risk-free possessionof oneself. Thanks to Surrealism, it analysis of the *or, ,igo.o,rr-ro.,. It is even seemsthat opportunity knocksa secondtime. It is as tllough permissibleto entirle we were still running toward our salvation, or otrr perdi- tax)::,0,T,""..^b;;;"ilff TrxJ,ll,Il,,*.r,",'Jffi ,,'T.T;: tion. In the shadow we again seea preciotls terror' Thank of headlines and scrapsof headlines cur out of the God, it's still only Purgatory. With a shudder, we cross newsPaPers: what the occultists call dangerousterritory. In my wake I raise up monsters that are lying in wait; they are not yet too ill-disposed toward me, and I arn not lost, since I fear them. Here are "the elephants with the heads o[ women and the liying lions" which used to make Soupattlt and rne tremble in our boots to meet, here is the "soluble fish" which still frightens me slightly. soLUBLtirlslr, am I not the solrrble fish, I was born under the sign of Pisces,and man is soluble in his thoughtl The flora and fauna of Strr- realism are inadmissible. POEM jrd. I do not believe in the establishmentof a conven- tional Surrealist pattern any time in the near fr.rture'The characteristicscommon to all the texts of this kind, incltrd- A burst of laughter ing those I have just cited and rnany others rvhich alone of sapphirein theistand of Ceylon could offer us a logical analysisand a careful grarnrnatical analysis,do not preclude a certain evoltttion of Surrealist prose in time. Coming on the heels of a large ttrrtnber of The tnoot beautilul sttaws essaysI have written in this vein over the Past five years, most of which I am indulgent enough to think are ex' HAVIA FADIDCOTOR tremely disordered, the short anecdotesrvhich comprise UNDERTHE LOCKS Manifestoesof Surrealism 42 Manifesto of Surrealism 43 on an isolatedfarm Watch out for FROM DAY TO DAY the fire that covers the pleasant THE PRAYER grows worse of fair weather

A. oa,nnia,gfe noa,d. Know thar takes you to the edgle of the unknown The ultraviolet rays have frnished. their tash collee shott and sweet preachesfor its saint THE DAILY ARTISAN OF YOUR BEAUTY THEFINT WHITE PAPER MADAM, OF CHANCE Red will be a palr of silk stoc The wandering singer WHEREIS HE? hr rnernor.3r A leapinto space in hishouse AT TEE A STAG SUTTOBS'BALL

Love aboveaII Ido Everythingcould be workedout sowellil,, s I dance WhatpeoPle panrs rs a Brc vu..rJaGE did, what they're going to do Manifesto of Surrealism 4b of Surrealism 44 Manifestoes r The -. Yes' as much as I lihe, but what of the oracle it- offer many many more examples. , lt"'* And we could self?** Men's piety does not fool me' wouldall succeedin ' The Surrealist voice thearer, philosophy, r.i*..,.'rtricism toadd that future i"Ji"s in.i,u.u'i"ss there' I hasten :ll:',f."1"::T1?i:i.Tl;,Til,'liij,J#''ru:; srrrreullisrtechniquesdonotinterestme' rne. My time musr nor be its time, why should this voice n.tp me resolve the childish problem of my destiny? I ately, to act in a world where, in order nt its suggestions,I would be obliged to ds of interpreters, one to translate its , the other, impossible to find, to rrans_ nen whatever senseI could make out of in which I endure what I endure (don't 'n world, I mean, what the devil do you h it? Perhapsrhe Surrealist voice will be :n up rying to keep rrack of those who I shall no longer enrer into, however :lous detailed description of my years all be like Nijinski who was taken lasr torla.y.scarcely,'llll]llj;)'ear to the Russian ballet and did not realize what spec- o[ this sort: the accuseo

. We lnust absolurely get to the bottom of this. about one o,clock, the voice whispered to me: What did it rnean? I have rrever been ro rly the vaguesr notion as to where it is located e. Bethune evclkesnothing for me, not even a 'e L/lusheteers.I should have lefr for B6thune, ltas somerlting arvairing me; that would have y. Someone tolcl me rhey had read in a book by lerective v,ho, in order to find someone he is in ciry, simply scoured fronr roof to cellar the re outside, seerrredsomehow abnormal to hirn, light