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This book, which can be read and downloaded freely, is a survey of surrealism as an occult movement, and the surrealists' involvement in, and appropriation of, a range of occult and esoteric currents for their own purposes. It shows, I think, that this involvement was serious and profound, and also dispels some misconceptions propagated by academic historians of surrealism.
Most of the material covered goes up to the 1960's, though some later developments, up to the 2000's, are alluded to. The first chapter explains the surrealists' atheism and anticlericalism in the context of their search for the authentic sacred, and shows how it is of quite a different character than the sterile rationalism/positivism/scientism usually connoted by atheism nowadays.
Subsequent chapters detail surrealists' explorations of myth, astrology, alchemy, magic, freemasonry, voodoo, etc. from many angles, synthesized in their peculiar orientation toward "The Marvelous," through "poetry, liberty, and love" as Breton summarized it.
I found the book fascinating but very dense with references and quotations- if I weren't familiar with the basic principles of surrealism, and the broad outline of its history and key figures, I probably would have found the book unreadable. For those unfamiliar with basic surrealism I would recommend starting with the collection of Andre Breton's writings, What is Surrealism? edited by Franklin Rosemont, as well as Pierre Mabille's Mirror of the Marvelous and the anthology of collective statements Surrealism Against the Current.
Most of the material covered goes up to the 1960's, though some later developments, up to the 2000's, are alluded to. The first chapter explains the surrealists' atheism and anticlericalism in the context of their search for the authentic sacred, and shows how it is of quite a different character than the sterile rationalism/positivism/scientism usually connoted by atheism nowadays.
Subsequent chapters detail surrealists' explorations of myth, astrology, alchemy, magic, freemasonry, voodoo, etc. from many angles, synthesized in their peculiar orientation toward "The Marvelous," through "poetry, liberty, and love" as Breton summarized it.
I found the book fascinating but very dense with references and quotations- if I weren't familiar with the basic principles of surrealism, and the broad outline of its history and key figures, I probably would have found the book unreadable. For those unfamiliar with basic surrealism I would recommend starting with the collection of Andre Breton's writings, What is Surrealism? edited by Franklin Rosemont, as well as Pierre Mabille's Mirror of the Marvelous and the anthology of collective statements Surrealism Against the Current.
