Given that the Surrealists were initially met with widespread
incomprehension, mercilessly ridiculed, and treated as madmen, it is
remarkable that more than one hundred years on we still feel the
vitality and continued popularity of the movement today.
As Willard Bohn demonstrates, Surrealism was not just a French
phenomenon but one that eventually encompassed much of the world.
Concentrating on the movement's theory and practice, this
extraordinarily broad-ranging book documents the spread of Surrealism
throughout the western hemisphere and examines keys texts, critical
responses, and significant writers. The latter include three
extraordinarily talented individuals who were eventually awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature (Andre Breton, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz).
Like their Surrealist colleagues, they strove to free human beings from
their unconscious chains so that they could realize their true
potential.
One Hundred Years of Surrealist Poetry explores not only the birth but
also the ongoing life of a major literary movement.