In this, the first biography in English of the iconoclastic poet and founder of Surrealism, first-time author Polizzotti offers both an expertly researched life and an informed history of one of the defining cultural movements of this century. Beginning with a narrative of his subject's working-class youth in northern France, Polizzotti goes on to relate the concatenation of events and influences (most notably World War I and the literary supernovas Alfred Jarry and Guillaume Apollinaire) that conspired to shape Breton's uniquely opinionated personality. A cynical atheist, the poet, critic, and artist harbored an irrepressible streak of romanticism. Breton and his band of followers reached their pinnacle of genius and relevance in the late 1920s and early 1930s, after which the movement was beset by defections and excommunications?many largely in reaction to its founder's despotic leadership. The worldwide upheaval caused by World War II rendered the surrealist's efforts sterile and effete, and, to many onlookers, the war only proved how ineffectual these agents provocateurs had been all along. The artistic vanguard rapidly shifted from Paris to New York, and Breton's heyday had passed. Yet his influence had for a short time been truly revolutionary, and this very well written account can be highly recommended for all larger libraries. [For an in-depth look at the surrealists in the 1930s and 1940s, see Martica Sawin's Surrealism in Exileand the Beginning of the New York School, p. 73.?Ed.]?Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.
-?Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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