Magnetic Fields

An indispensible classic of French poetry, this is a new translation of Breton and Soupault''s experiment with automatic writing, and also the first known work of literary surrealism. In the sprin ...

An indispensible classic of French poetry, this is a new translation of Breton and Soupault''s experiment with automatic writing, and also the first known work of literary surrealism. In the spring of 1919, two young men, André Breton and Philippe Soupault, both in a state of shock after World War I, embarked on an experiment. Sick of the literary cultivation of “voice,” sick of the “well-written,” they wanted to unleash the power of the word and to create “a new morality” to replace “the prevailing morality, the source of all our trials and tribulations.” They had a plan. They would write for