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Head-Fi's Sybil
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Here, for the benefit of anyone who happens to be interested, are my thoughts (as posted elsewhere) on surrealism in English and American literature.
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Andre Breton is not always the most reliable source for surrealist literary theory. When attempting to define and trace the influence and practice of surrealism, keep in mind that Breton was an iconoclast whose momentary preoccupations sometimes produced definitions that described his own sources and points of interest but which do not always prove useful for defining surrealist work or practice generally. (An example: At one point, Breton claimed surrealism was synonymous with communism.)
Another point to keep in mind: Practices and techniques used in surrealistic writing, however characteristically, are not necessarily defined as exclusive to surrealism. Although many surrealist writers have made extensive use of automatic writing, it does not follow that (i) all automatic writing is surrealist or (ii) all surrealist writing is automatic. Paul Eluard was capable of perfecting his surrealist bijoux with the deliberate hand of a jeweler, and he is one of the earliest and most characteristic members of the first surrealist group (he is the veritable Max Ernst of verse libre). Besides, if spontaneous unedited expression were a surrealist prerequisite, then many classic surrealist paintings would have to be classified as something else.
(There are, of course, techniques specific to surrealism, as well as forms that are famously connected to surrealist art and writing whatever their origins, such as the "exquisite corpse." But these have more connection to surrealism as a movement than simply being hues in a given surrealist’s palette.)
Both in the States and the UK, surrealist and neo-surrealist writing have been practiced often enough to yield several anthologies of criticism, poetry, prose poetry and fiction. English critic Herbert Reade wrote extensively about the tradition in his country and elsewhere; do keep in mind that key international surrealist exhibitions debuted in New York and London, and that these cannot have failed to influence artists of various descriptions in those places (see for example the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936). There were in fact active surrealist groups in London and the States in the 30s and 40s (such as the "40s Surrealist Group" and "35" in London specifically). Most included writers; even Roger Roughton, editor of Contemporary Poetry and Prose, professed to be a member of the "loosely constituted English surrealist group."
A list of relevant writers might include Americans Philip Lamantia (a San Franciscan poet who was discovered at age fifteen by Breton himself and whose first collection, Touch of the Marvelous, uses classic surrealist techniques, as do later volumes, such as Blood of the Air), Charles Henri Ford (a self-professed surrealist poet whose books include The Overturned Lake and who edited the largely surrealist magazine, View), James Tate (see his collection, The Oblivion Ha-Ha), Rikki Ducornet, William Hjortsberg (who wrote Symbiography, a novella about a man who dreams for a living), Joseph Cornell (who was not merely a visual artist); Brits such as David Gascoyne (a surrealist poet who also wrote the first study of surrealism by an English person, A Short Survey of Surrealism, in 1935), George Barker, Philip O'Connor, Kenneth Allot, Humphrey Jennings, Theo Strasser (who was also a photographer; see his collection, The Use of Ashes) and Hugh Sykes Davies (a surrealist poet who was also a critic, and who also wrote the first English surrealist novel, Petron, in 1935)).
A survey of relevant volumes might include The Course of English Surrealist Poetry Since The 1930s, by Rob Jackamon, Surrealists on Art, by Lucy Lippard, the 60s Chicago surrealist anthology, Arsenal, and a dozen other anthologies of British and American surrealist writing (such as English and American Surrealist Poetry, edited by Edward B.Germain).
Despite their connections to other artistic movements, members of the New York School often used specific surrealist techniques: Ashbery has been mentioned (but not his telling essay, "Growing up Surreal"), as has Frank O'Hara; Barbara Guest and Kenneth Koch have not. Later language poet Charles Bernstein has called surrealism "insufficiently synthetic" (despite this, he and other language poets have absorbed certain key surrealist techniques); clearly, Ashbery and his "New York School" peers felt otherwise, since their work forms a bridge between surrealist and language poetry.
=======================
Andre Breton is not always the most reliable source for surrealist literary theory. When attempting to define and trace the influence and practice of surrealism, keep in mind that Breton was an iconoclast whose momentary preoccupations sometimes produced definitions that described his own sources and points of interest but which do not always prove useful for defining surrealist work or practice generally. (An example: At one point, Breton claimed surrealism was synonymous with communism.)
Another point to keep in mind: Practices and techniques used in surrealistic writing, however characteristically, are not necessarily defined as exclusive to surrealism. Although many surrealist writers have made extensive use of automatic writing, it does not follow that (i) all automatic writing is surrealist or (ii) all surrealist writing is automatic. Paul Eluard was capable of perfecting his surrealist bijoux with the deliberate hand of a jeweler, and he is one of the earliest and most characteristic members of the first surrealist group (he is the veritable Max Ernst of verse libre). Besides, if spontaneous unedited expression were a surrealist prerequisite, then many classic surrealist paintings would have to be classified as something else.
(There are, of course, techniques specific to surrealism, as well as forms that are famously connected to surrealist art and writing whatever their origins, such as the "exquisite corpse." But these have more connection to surrealism as a movement than simply being hues in a given surrealist’s palette.)
Both in the States and the UK, surrealist and neo-surrealist writing have been practiced often enough to yield several anthologies of criticism, poetry, prose poetry and fiction. English critic Herbert Reade wrote extensively about the tradition in his country and elsewhere; do keep in mind that key international surrealist exhibitions debuted in New York and London, and that these cannot have failed to influence artists of various descriptions in those places (see for example the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936). There were in fact active surrealist groups in London and the States in the 30s and 40s (such as the "40s Surrealist Group" and "35" in London specifically). Most included writers; even Roger Roughton, editor of Contemporary Poetry and Prose, professed to be a member of the "loosely constituted English surrealist group."
A list of relevant writers might include Americans Philip Lamantia (a San Franciscan poet who was discovered at age fifteen by Breton himself and whose first collection, Touch of the Marvelous, uses classic surrealist techniques, as do later volumes, such as Blood of the Air), Charles Henri Ford (a self-professed surrealist poet whose books include The Overturned Lake and who edited the largely surrealist magazine, View), James Tate (see his collection, The Oblivion Ha-Ha), Rikki Ducornet, William Hjortsberg (who wrote Symbiography, a novella about a man who dreams for a living), Joseph Cornell (who was not merely a visual artist); Brits such as David Gascoyne (a surrealist poet who also wrote the first study of surrealism by an English person, A Short Survey of Surrealism, in 1935), George Barker, Philip O'Connor, Kenneth Allot, Humphrey Jennings, Theo Strasser (who was also a photographer; see his collection, The Use of Ashes) and Hugh Sykes Davies (a surrealist poet who was also a critic, and who also wrote the first English surrealist novel, Petron, in 1935)).
A survey of relevant volumes might include The Course of English Surrealist Poetry Since The 1930s, by Rob Jackamon, Surrealists on Art, by Lucy Lippard, the 60s Chicago surrealist anthology, Arsenal, and a dozen other anthologies of British and American surrealist writing (such as English and American Surrealist Poetry, edited by Edward B.Germain).
Despite their connections to other artistic movements, members of the New York School often used specific surrealist techniques: Ashbery has been mentioned (but not his telling essay, "Growing up Surreal"), as has Frank O'Hara; Barbara Guest and Kenneth Koch have not. Later language poet Charles Bernstein has called surrealism "insufficiently synthetic" (despite this, he and other language poets have absorbed certain key surrealist techniques); clearly, Ashbery and his "New York School" peers felt otherwise, since their work forms a bridge between surrealist and language poetry.
