The Invention of Surrealism. From Magnetic Fields to Nadja.
| N° d'inventaire | 23256 |
| Format | 16 x 23 |
| Détails | 224 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2020 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782717728323 |
In 1918, a group of young poets traumatized by the Great War explored previously unknown reaches of the psyche and creativity. This is the Surrealism movement, whose birth and early years are traced in this book. The year 2020 marks the centenary of the publication of Les Champs magnétiques, the "first purely Surrealist work" and a major turning point in the field of literary creation. This text by André Breton and Philippe Soupault marks the birth of automatic writing. This first exhibition devoted to Surrealism organized at the BnF focuses on the movement's early years, at a time when, out of the ruins of the First World War, a radical need emerged to liquidate past values and renew forms of expression. The catalogue published for this occasion offers new insights into these fascinating pages and reveals to the general public, with new analyses, some of the "treasures" of the BnF, such as the working manuscript of Les Champs magnétiques (1919) or that of Nadja, thought to be lost, only recently rediscovered (one of the most important heritage acquisitions of recent years, never before exhibited). While the emphasis is on the innovative treatment brought by surrealism to writing and language, space is also made for a great diversity of media, in order to reflect surrealist poetics in its entirety. The four sections - War and the New Spirit, Dream and Automatism Manifestos and Provocations, Love and Madness: Nadja, the Wandering Soul - which punctuate the exhibition structure the work, each organized around an exceptional literary document, to which paintings, drawings, photographs, films, costumes, objects respond. A kaleidoscopic vision to recreate the adventure of this generation of poets who, in the aftermath of a barbaric experience, cried out their disgust for the world in bursts of wild laughter.
In 1918, a group of young poets traumatized by the Great War explored previously unknown reaches of the psyche and creativity. This is the Surrealism movement, whose birth and early years are traced in this book. The year 2020 marks the centenary of the publication of Les Champs magnétiques, the "first purely Surrealist work" and a major turning point in the field of literary creation. This text by André Breton and Philippe Soupault marks the birth of automatic writing. This first exhibition devoted to Surrealism organized at the BnF focuses on the movement's early years, at a time when, out of the ruins of the First World War, a radical need emerged to liquidate past values and renew forms of expression. The catalogue published for this occasion offers new insights into these fascinating pages and reveals to the general public, with new analyses, some of the "treasures" of the BnF, such as the working manuscript of Les Champs magnétiques (1919) or that of Nadja, thought to be lost, only recently rediscovered (one of the most important heritage acquisitions of recent years, never before exhibited). While the emphasis is on the innovative treatment brought by surrealism to writing and language, space is also made for a great diversity of media, in order to reflect surrealist poetics in its entirety. The four sections - War and the New Spirit, Dream and Automatism Manifestos and Provocations, Love and Madness: Nadja, the Wandering Soul - which punctuate the exhibition structure the work, each organized around an exceptional literary document, to which paintings, drawings, photographs, films, costumes, objects respond. A kaleidoscopic vision to recreate the adventure of this generation of poets who, in the aftermath of a barbaric experience, cried out their disgust for the world in bursts of wild laughter.