A Short Survey of Surrealism

by David Gascoyne

Gascoyne's membership of the Surrealist movement and his association with its leading members - among them Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali - placed him in an ideal position to witness and record the development and significance of its foremost artists and writers. A Short Survey of Surrealism is not merely a history of the birth and growth of the movement but also a thorough analysis of the main ideas associated with it.

Genres: Art, Poetry

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contemporaneously written short and condensed surrealist history of Surrealism -- in turns, brilliant and (like Surrealism itself) pretentious and dull. The most illuminating sections, to me, where those on Dadaism -- on Dada as pure revolt (ch. II).

[Arumyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed by my own expectations, both with the book and Surrealism in general.
As for the book I wished it discussed the theoretical foundations of the movement. Instead it contends itself with a passing chronological mention of names of authors, works and their content. The are a few informative passages about the two manifestos, which are better than nothing but leave a lot to be desired.
As for the movement itself. Well, pure automatic writing tends to be tedious unless you surrender your mental faculty to Dali's mode of paranoia (by which he meant what we call apophenia today, to find pattern and meaning where there's none). Can't say I care for their overt communist sympathy, or their cut up texts either.
All in all, this book and Breton's Nadja made me realize it's not the movement and its main proponents I'm interested in, rather its shockwaves decades later in the works of someone like David Lynch. The only Surrealist author I'm even remotely interested at this point is Paul Eluard, whose writing, featured as two short fragments here, seems approachable and imaginative.
Surrealist painting on the other hand surprised me. I was already a fan of Chirico and acquainted with Dali, but Max Ernst's work, particularly "The Eye of Silence" caught me off guard. I may even buy a print of it...