Breton, André

(1896-1966)

   writer

   A poet, critic, and leader of the surrealist movement, known for his "automatic" style, André Breton was born in Tinchebray, Orne. At first he studied medicine (1913), but soon took up writing, especially poetry. He corresponded with many notable figures, including Guillaume Apollinaire. His first work of poetry was Le Mont de Piété (1919). In 1924, along with other surrealist writers such a paul eluard and louis aragon, he published the Manifeste du surréalisme (1924) and with Philippe soupault the first surrealist text, Les Champs magnétiques. In 1927, Breton, along with Aragon, joined the Communist Party and from that point on took an active part in political life (Position politique du surréalisme, 1935). He broke with Stalinism (1938) after a meeting with Leon Trotsky. Breton's views of surrealism reflect his study of the works of Freud. Breton was also influenced by the poets paul valéry and Arthur rimbaud. In his writings, Breton sought to celebrate love in all its forms. His best creative work is considered to be the novel Nadja (1928), based partly on his own experiences. He organized two international surrealist exhibitions (1947, 1965) and had a great interest also in pre-Columbian cultures of the New World (Breton left France and stayed in North America for a period after the banning of his work Anthologie de l'humour noir in 1940). Breton's other writings include Union libre (1931), L'Amour fou (1937), Arcane 17 (1947), Ode à Charles Fourier (1947), Poèmes (a collective edition, 1948), and two essays on art (Le Surréalisme et la Peinture, 1946; L'Art magique, 1957).