AN OVERVIEW OF SURREALISM IN THE UNITED STATES

par Timo Kaitaro

Surrealism in North America is not a chapter to be neglected in the history of international surrealism. The history of automatism in Quebec as much as the history of surrealism in the United States before the formation of the surrealist group in Chicago have already been studied in detail (1). But the history of the group founded by the couple Franklin and Penelope Rosemont after their meeting with Parisian surrealists in 1965 is less known and would be worth studying in detail. Meanwhile, Guy Ducornet's book provides us with a concise overview of the group's activities.

He abundantly quotes the tracts of American surrealists. With the result of emphasizing the political aspect of their activity: with Blacks and workers, against the American way of life, the Vietnam War, racism etc. In addition to national political struggles, the specificity of surrealism in the United States is also visible in the interest it has shown in jazz and the poetry of revolt in blues lyrics.

The excerpts from the tracts, often abbreviated, do not allow glimpsing in-depth theoretical developments, but one can find successful characterizations of surrealist objectives that are not valid only for American surrealism, for example: "The function of poetry, in revolutionary terms, is to destroy the limitative and conventional associations of all the decrepit and suffocating myths of capitalism" (p. 33). This quote reveals the politically militant side of American surrealism, which forms a good counterpoint to the more artistic or even downright commercial reception of the forties (one remembers the American adventures of a Dalí, who succeeded well in giving a distorted image of surrealism to Americans).

The major flaw of Guy Ducornet's book is, fortunately, that it is not thick enough: the reader is left wanting more. The work gives a good overview of the situation of surrealism in the United States, but only an overview. One can always supplement it with the collection of essays by Penelope Rosemont, Surrealist Experiences, 1001 Dawns, 221 Midnights (Surrealist Editions, Chicago / Black Swan Press, Evanston 2000), which also reveal some innovations of American surrealists in matters of artistic techniques and surrealist games. And one must not forget that Rikki Ducornet, one of the most exciting contemporary writers in the United States, is there to prove the fecundity of American surrealism (she participated in the activities of the Chicago group) (2).

Since the Chicago surrealist group is still active (3), it is perhaps premature to write a true history of it. Apart from the interest of its interventions, the Chicago group has among its references its persistence: more than thirty years of activity. Within the limits of its dimensions, Guy Ducornet's work testifies to the vitality of surrealism in the United States, but the reader must not forget that it is an abridgment that gives only small samples of surrealist activities in the United States: there is more to discover (in English at least).

(1) See, for example: André-G. Bourassa, Surrealism and Quebec Literature: History of a Cultural Revolution, Les Herbes Rouges/Typo Essai, Quebec 1986; François-Marc Gagnon, Chronicle of the Quebec Automatist Movement, Lanctôt, Outremont 1986, and Dickran Tashjian, A Boatload of Madmen. Surrealism and the American Avant-Garde 1929-1950 Thames and Hudson, New York 1995.

(2) Regarding Rikki Ducornet's work, one must note the translations made by Guy Ducornet: The Ivory Chess Set (Starck & Le Serpent à Plumes, 1998), The Fires of the Orchid (Le Serpent à Plumes, 1999), Phosphorus in the Land of Dreams (Le Serpent à Plumes, 2000) and The Marquis de Sade's Fan (Le Serpent à Plume, 2002).

(3) See www.surrealism-usa.org, where one can find among other information the list of publications of Surrealist Editions & Black Swan Press.