Surreal Lives: The Surrealists 1917-1945

576 Pages·1999·58.55 MB·English

by  Ruth Brandon

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LIVES
THE
SURREALISTS
1917-1945
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$32.50
In the years following World War i,
a small group ofwriters, painters,
and filmmakers set out to change
the way we perceive the world. They
called themselves the Surrealists, and
their aim was to revolutionize the arts,
and through them everything else. In
SurrealLives Ruth Brandon follows their
lives and interconnections, as the primal
scream that was Dada evolved into
Surrealism, the movement that raged
through the art world until the end of
World War
II.
The interaction ofsuch firecracker
minds as Andre Breton, Marcel
Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Salvador
Dali, Man Ray, Max Ernst, and Luis
Bufiuel defined what we now think ofas
Surrealism. No artist worked without
the encouragement or disapproval ofthe
group, and the group ethos was at the
heart ofthe movement. SurrealLives
charts the delicate balance ofpower laid
waste by the chaotic, antic genius of
Tristan Tzara and Salvador Dali, and it
describes Breton's struggle to hold the
reins ofthe unruly mass and to expel his
challengers from the group. It tells the
story ofcharismaticJacques Vache,
whose suicide was declared the ultimate
Surreal act; ofthe movement's long and
strange flirtation with the Communist
Party and of—its migration to New York;
ofthe power creative and destructive
that Gala Eluard held over Paul Eluard
and Dali. Ruth Brandon spins the many
stories ofSurrealism with wit, energy,
and insight, bringing sharp analysis to
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SURREAL
LIVES
Also by Ruth Brandon
NON-FICTION
Singer and the Sewing Machine, A CapitaHst Romance
The Dollar Princesses
The Spiritualists
The Burning Question
The New Women and the Old Men
A
Being Divine: Biography of Sarah Bernhardt
The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini
FICTION
Left, Right and Centre
Out of Body, Out of Mind
Tickling the Dragon
The Uncertainty Principle
RUTH .BRANDON
SURREAL
LIVES
THE SURREALISTS
1917-1945
^Br
GROVE PRESS
New York
Copyright© 1999byRuthBrandon
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby
anyelectronicormechanical means,includinginformationstorageand
retrievalsystems,withoutpermission inwritingfromthepublisher,exceptby
areviewer,whomayquotebriefpassagesinareview.Anymembersof
educationalinstitutionswishingtophotocopypartoralloftheworkfor
classroomuse,orpublisherswhowouldliketoobtainpermissiontoinclude
theworkinananthology,shouldsendtheirinquiriestoGrove/Atlantic,Inc.,
841 Broadway,NewYork,NY 10003.
FirstpublishedbyMacmillan, animprintofMacmillanPublishersLtd., in
Londonin 1999
PublishedsimultaneouslyinCanada
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
FIRSTAMERICANEDITION
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Brandon,Ruth.
Surreallives : thesurrealists, 1917-1945/RuthBrandon.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8021-1653-1
—
1. Surrealism. 2.Arts,Modem 20thcentury. I.Title.
NX456.5.S8B745 1999
709'.04'063—dc21 99-25492
CIP
GrovePress
841 Broadway
NewYork,NY 10003
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