Martinique: Snake Charmer (Surrealist Revolution Series). First Edition.

Breton, Andre

ISBN 10: 0292717652 / ISBN 13: 9780292717657

Published by University of Texas Press, 2008

Free UPS ground shipping & insurance in USA 48. This book is authored by the leader of the Surrealist movement. It documents in words, photographs and illustrations (see listing photographs) their brief time in exile on Martinique en route from Vichy France to New York. Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. First Edition; Fine in fine dust jacket and plastic cover. (117pp. ) (5 1/2" X 8 1/2") Surrealist Revolution Series. ; 5 1/2" X 8 1/2"; 117 pages. Text & illustrations by Andre Masson. From Wikipedia: Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself.[1] Its aim was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality.[2][3][4] It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media. Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur. However, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost (for instance, of the "pure psychic automatism" Breton speaks of in the first Surrealist Manifesto), with the works themselves being secondary, i.e. artifacts of surrealist experimentation.[5] Leader Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. At the time, the movement was associated with political causes such as communism and anarchism. It was influenced by the Dada movement of the 1910s.[6] The term "Surrealism" originated with Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917.[7][8] However, the Surrealist movement was not officially established until after October 1924, when the Surrealist Manifesto published by French poet and critic André Breton succeeded in claiming the term for his group over a rival faction led by Yvan Goll, who had published his own surrealist manifesto two weeks prior.[9] The most important center of the movement was Paris, France. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, impacting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory. Seller Inventory # 0079

Synopsis:

In 1941, as the Vichy regime consolidated its control of France, André Breton left the country for the island of Martinique. A poet and the principal founder of surrealism, Breton did not stay long, but his visit inspired the essays and poems of this book. Martinique: Snake Charmer is one of surrealism's most important texts, and it has been called "the most beautiful of all books" about the island. (Martinique: Snake Charmer also includes nine evocative drawings by the surrealist André Masson, a companion of Breton's during his stay on the island.) First collected into a single volume in 1948 and in print in France ever since, this is the first English translation of a work that, in series editor Franklin Rosemont's view, seeks "not merely to question the dogmas and platitudes of so-called common sense and 'established facts,' but to deviate from them, absolutely, in an imaginative quest for new and untried solutions to society's gravest problems."

In the tropical beauty of Martinique, Breton found what he called "the Marvelous"; he also found outrageous greed, corruption, and colonial brutality. His guide through this schizophrenic place was Aimé Césaire, a Martinican surrealist and writer who Breton later championed in the book's most important essay, "A Great Black Poet." Breton recognized how Césaire and others had adapted surrealism to the specific conditions of the West Indies, enriching the movement in ways he could not have imagined. As a result, Breton never succumbed to the gloom that afflicted postwar Europe. He and Césaire and others continued the surrealists' quest undaunted, propelled in large part by the spirit they captured in this dynamic book.

About the Author: David W. Seaman is Professor of French at Georgia Southern University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Martinique: Snake Charmer (Surrealist ...
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication Date: 2008
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: Masson, Andre
Condition: As New
Dust Jacket Condition: As New
Edition: 1st Edition