Бесцеремонная история сюрреализма

by Рауль Ванейгем

Научно-эмоциональное исследование, принадлежащее перу бельгийского философа и историка, одного из лидеров Ситуационистского Интернационала. Анализируя главные идеи и импульсы знаменитого течения в культуре, автор рассматривает его как важнейшую составляющую современной освободительной доктрины. Издание снабжено специальным авторским предисловием для русских читателей

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Theory, Politics

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny book with respect of another political/art/social biting the hand that fed a culture. The Surrealists were such a rag-tag group of visionaries, poets, political observers, and sex manics that it's interesting to see their sons and daughters giving them a push over the cliff. Yet if it wasn't for the Surrealists, a lot of things wouldn't happen - for instance The Situationists.

But to live you got to give that push so you can have room to move and shake it a bit. Since I am the child of the Punk rock years, it sort of reminds me when we loathe the Daddies of Rock just because they were there clogging up the airwaves, the culture - one wanted to blow them off the map - and this book works the same way. Sort of an essential text, especially placed in a particular place and time.

[Aonarán · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of the book says it was written for high school students, but I find it hard to believe they would want or easily be able to read A Cavalier History.

For those unfamiliar with vaneigem's writing, situationist jargon and surrealism in general, this will likely be a difficult read. Or maybe rather a book you just say 'fuck this' to and don't read much of.

For those familiar with all the above, this is a pretty good critique of surrealism - what the fuck were they doing with the communist party, then trotsky, how many of them just ended up selling their art for a lot of money, etc etc. Most of your problems with surrealism are likely mentioned if not addressed at length.

Cheap and pretty editions found here:
https://aboulderonthenet.noblogs.org/...

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always felt that Surrealist-inspired anarchists were rather impotent in their words and actions (the latter pretty much just being art), and this book really hits the nail on the head as to way. Contrary to their Dadaist predecessors, the Surrealists left behind the idea of art to destroy art. Thought of within a Hegelian dialectic, Surrealism strives to negate in order to bring forth a progress-bearing synthesis, with no intention of negation for negation's sake (nihilism?). When everyone knows of Dali and praises his work, it's clear that Surrealism, if not containing the kernel of counter-revolution from the beginning, took a debilitating turn during its time.

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κυκλοφόρησε στα ελληνικά, ως "¨Η αντι-ιστορία του Σουρρεαλισμού", εκδόσεις Ελεύθερος Τύπος

[Dylan Kiewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"if there is any truth to the notion that the drowning see their whole life replayed before their eyes in a few short seconds, Surrealism might well be described as the last dream of a foundering culture"

second read (first in 2022)

raoul vaneigem (member thru the '60s of the situationist international) writes the definitive critical history (and diss track) on Surrealism. what was surrealism really? was it an art movement or did it seek to destroy art like its predecessor dada? how did it fail? how did it succeed? what did we learn from either / or? who deserves credit ? who deserves ire?

to wade into the waters of any of the three of these groupings is to get into the nitty gritty of the why of "art" ; is any creative act worth it in a system that will inevitably coopt it to serve its own ends? can art really be revolutionary or is it one more spectacle, one more distraction?

i genuinely want to know

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

worth reading if the overlapping spheres of surrealism and situationism are of any interest to you.

[Sceox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's introductory note admits the text was a gig, written on a tight deadline, and that it has a "polemical character and peremptory tone". These aspects did lessen my enjoyment of it, but Vaneigem's criticisms are relevant, and the text can be used, as I used it, as a backdrop or jumping-off point for an exploration of some of the more interesting figures of the movement (albeit a bit hard to follow at first for one not familiar with some of the proper names). Or as a sort of guide for "those who rise with every new program which promotes the greater emancipation of mankind", a set of warnings for those wanting to "start afresh".

[Elzira Rai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A devastating yet sympathetic critique of the failures and contradictions of Surrealism, written in a non-academic tone, focusing on the movement's inability to become 'total' by surrendering the promise of political revolution to bolshevism. It also offers a sometimes comic portrait of the childish and often mundane diatribes of some leading members of the movement against other artists, making them look like a bunch of sub-bourgeois puerile tantrum-throwers. Nevertheless, the approach is almost affectionate to some core members, making the critique more dialogic and, on some occasions, redemptive.

[Ian]

Recommended.

[Márcia Figueira · Rating 3 out of 5]

girassol in amor louco

e na mala de mão escondia-se o meu sonho esse frasco de sais
que só a madrinha de Deus inalou