The History of Surrealism

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First of all, no more logic

 . . . the surrealists are not politicians nor scientists, philosophers nor even physicians. They are poets, specialists in language, and it is language they will attack first.
First of all, no more logic. In language especially it must be hunted down, beaten to a pulp, reduced to nothing. There are no more verbs, subjects, complements. There are words that can even mean something other than what they actually say.

 

— Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism

Which dead end will be reincarnated?
          The river above the sound of the river

Question John Levy,  Answer Michelle Tennison (2017)

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The Secret Life of Words

All the Things You Said

All the Things You Said,    digital art collage by Josephine R. Unglaub

Is it possible that words themselves have a kind of life force or inherent energetic signature that has been forgotten?  According to Maurice Nadeau in The History of Surrealism, Andre Breton attached extreme importance to word games because “they showed that words had their own lives, that they were creators of energy, and that they could henceforth command thought.” (Breton’s words in italics).

What is conversation?
          Elephants outfitted for battle

Question Michelle Tennison,  Answer Mark Harris (2016)

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Humor is the Fourth Dimension

Humor is the fourth dimension of this world, without it futile and unlivable . . .

A secret conquered at the cost of long suffering, humor is the answer to superior minds to this world in which they feel themselves alien. More than a natural secretion, as it has too often been regarded, humor manifests, on the contrary, the heroic attitude of those who are unwilling to compromise.

— Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism

 

Perhaps humor breaks the quantum bonds created by story . . . and laughter is the energy that is set free.

above
the sea of voices
a laughing gull

— Michelle Tennison

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This is a true revolution, Poetic first, because it denies poetry by transcending it. The arrangement as a poem is banished in favor of the automatic text, the dictation of the unconscious, the dream narrative. No concern for art, for beauty. Those are paltry goals, unworthy of attention. The poet’s soul is what it is.

Maurice Nadeau,  The History of Surrealism

 

Does the ocean have a soul?
          All the children tell the same story. 

Q&A Session Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (2013)