Welcome to Surrealism Plays.com, and our list of Surrealist Books.
SURREALIST BOOKS
There are numerous books relating to
Surrealism and Surrealist writing. Here
is an extensive list of publications in English, most of which
can be found on Amazon.com and other Internet book
sites, plus a few harder to find gems that are certainly worth the extra
search.
The list is broken into four
catagories: Top Ten Recommendations
;
Books About Surrealism
;
Collections of Surrealist
Writing ; and Books by Individual
Authors
.
The authors have been arranged in the
approximate chronological order of their involvement in the
Surrealist Movement. Additional writers,
who are often associated with Surrealism,
are included at the end of the list.
Top Ten Recommendations
1. La Revolution
Surrealiste
collection
complete nos 1 through 12
Editions Jean-Michel Place 1975
Note: This
book is not in English and it's rather hard to find. However, it's a gem
to anyone interested in Surrealism, featuring copies of all 12 issues of
La Revolution Surrealiste, published in Paris between 1924 and
1929. The same company also offers a collection of the 6 issues of
Surrealisme Au Service De La Revolution, originally published during the
1930s. The above link leads to a page where the
books can be purchased.
2. Liberty or Love
by Robert Desnos
Atlas
Press 1993
Note: This book is temporarily
out of print, but used copies are out there. It is arguably one of the
great masterpieces
of Surrealist literature. The above link leads to the Atlas Press website, which offers
numerous books relating to Surrealism and the
avant-garde.
3. The
Automatic Message
by Andre Breton, Philippe Soupault and
Paul Eluard
Atlas Press 2001
Note: Contains both The Magnetic
Fields (1919) by Breton and Soupault and The Immaculate
Conception (1930) by Breton and Eluard.
4. Death to the
Pigs
by Benjamin Peret
Atlas Press 1988
Note:
Contains Peret's surrealist novel Death to the Pigs and the Field
of Battle, as well as prose, poetry, letters & polemical
texts. The Atlas Press edition may currently be out of print, but the same
translation by Rachel Stella is also available through University of
Nebraska Press.
5. Mad Balls
by Benjamin Peret
Atlas Press 1991
Note: This book is
currently out of print, but worth the extra search. It contains Peret's
1928 story, with illustrations by Yves Tanguy. It's pornographic,
blasphemous and absolutely hilarious.
6. Collected Works Volume
One
by Antonin Artaud
John Calder 1968
Note:
Contains Artaud's early collections Letters to Jacques Riviere,
Umbilical Limbo and Nerve Scales.
7. The Secret Life of Salvador
Dali
by Salvador Dali
DASA Edicions, S.A.
1942
Note: Dali's outrageous autobiography has been available through a
number of different publishers over the years, including Dover, Kessinger
and Dial Press.
8. An Unspeakable Betrayal
Selected Writings of Luis Bunuel
University of
California Press 2000
Note: Contains Bunuel's wonderful surrealist
story Illegible, the Son of a Flute, among other
prose.
9. Poet in New York
by
Federico Garcia Lorca
The Noonday Press 1988
Note: Arguably the
greatest collection of surrealist poetry, written while Lorca was a
student at Columbia University in New York, 1929-30.
10.
Investigating Sex
Surrealist Discussions
1928-1932
Verso 1990
Note: Fascinating collection of
roundtable discussions held by the Paris Surrealists, concerning the
subject of sex. Participants include Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Benjamin
Peret, Louis Aragon and Max Ernst, among many others.
History of the
Surrealist Movement
by Gerard Durozoi
University of Chicago
Press 2004
History of
Surrealism
by Maurice Nadeau
Belknap
Press 1989
Surrealism
by Patrick Waldberg
Thames & Hudson
1965
The Surrealists -
Revolutionaries in Art and Writing
Jemima Montagu
Tate
2002
Surreal
Lives
by Ruth Brandon
Grove Press
1999
COLLECTIONS OF SURREALIST
WRITING
The Random House Book of Twentieth Century
French Poetry
First Vintage Books 1982
Note: This book
may currently be out of print, but is worth searching for. It contains
poetry by many Surrealists, including Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Benjamin
Peret, Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, Antonin Artaud and Raymond Queneau,
among others.
Modern French Poets
Edited
by Wallace Fowlie
Dover Publishing 1955
Note: Anthology featuring
poems by Breton, Eluard and Desnos, among others.
The Poetry of Surrealism
Edited by Michael Benedikt
Little, Brown and Company 1974
Note:
Currently out of print, though used copies are out there. This anthology
contains poems by Breton, Aragon, Eluard, Peret, Artaud and Desnos, among
many others.
Surrealist Love Poems
Edited by Mary Ann Caws
The University of Chicago Press
2001
Note: Collection of surrealist poetry, featuring works by Breton,
Desnos, Eluard and Dali, among many others.
The Dadalus Books of Surrealism
Volume
1: The Identity of Things
Volume 2: The Myth of the
World
Dadalus Publishing 1993 & 1994
Note: Two anthologies
of prose by Surrealist writers.
The Surrealists Look at Art
Pontus Hulten 1990
Note: Anthology of articles by Eluard, Aragon,
Soupault, Breton and Tzara.
4 Dada Suicides
Atlas Press
1995
Note: Collection of writings by (and biographical information on)
Arthur Cravan, Jacques Rigaut, Julien Torma and Jacques Vache. It includes
Vache's War Letters to Andre Breton.
The Automatic Muse
A
Collection of Surrealist Novels
Atlas Press 1994
Note: This book
may currently be out of print, but is worth searching for. It contains
surrealist novels from the 1920s by Desnos, Limbour, Leiris and
Peret.
Modern French Theatre
Translated by Michael Benedikt & George E. Wellwarth
E.P.
Dutton 1966
Note: Out of print, but worth the search. It includes surrealist
plays by Breton & Soupault, Aragon, Daumal, Gilbert-Lecomte,
Desnos, Artaud and Vitrac, among others.
Encyclopedia Acephalica
Atlas Press 1995
Note: Features the Critical
Dictionary edited by Georges Bataille, as well as texts from
Documents (1929-30). Among the contributors are Robert Desnos,
Michel Leiris and Jacques Baron.
The authors are presented in the following order: Jacques Vache, Andre Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault, Paul Eluard, Benjamin Peret, Robert Desnos, Antonin Artaud, Roger Vitrac, Jacques Rigaut, Rene Crevel, Michel Leiris, Georges Limbour, Raymond Queneau, Jacques Prevert, Jacques-Andre Boiffard, Giorgio de Chirico, Rene Char, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel, Federico Garcia Lorca, Pierre Unik, Paul Nogue, Comte de Lautreamont, Tristan Tzara, Rene Daumal, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and Georges Bataille .
Jacques
Vache
Letters from the
Front Atlas Press
1993
Jacques Vache and the Roots of Surrealism (including
War Letters
and other writings) Charles H. Kerr
2008
Andre
Breton
Prose
Manifestos of Surrealism
University of Michigan Press 1969
The Automatic Message
Atlas Press 2001
Nadja
Grove Press 1960
Communicating Vessels
University of Nebraska Press 1990
Mad Love
University of Nebraska Press 1987
Arcanum 17
Sun and Moon Press 1994
Surrealism and Painting
MFA Publications 2002
Andre Breton Selected
Works
University of California Press
2003
Anthology of Black Humor City Lights Books
1997
The Lost Steps (a collection of essays) University of
Nebraska Press 1996
Break of Day University of Nebraska Press
1999
Poetry
Poems of Andre
Breton
Black Widow Press 2006
Earthlight
Green Integer 2004
My Heart Through Which Her
Heart Has Passed
Alyscamps Press 2001
Biography
Conversations: The Autobiography of
Surrealism
Marlowe & Company 1993
Revolution of the Mind by
Mark Polizzotti Da Capo Press 1997
The Adventures of
Telemachus Exact Change 1988
The
Libertine
Calder Publications 1987
Irene's Cunt
Creation Books 1996
Paris Peasant
Exact Change 1994
Treatise on Style
University of Nebraska Press 1991
Poet of the French Resistance Duell, Sloan & Pearce 1945
The Automatic Message
(includes The Magnetic Fields by Soupault &
Breton)
Atlas Press 2001
Last Nights in Paris
Exact Change 2004
I'm Lying - Selected Poetry Lost Roads 1985
Prose
The Automatic Message
(includes The Immaculate Conception by Eluard & Breton)
Atlas Press
2001
Letters to Gala Paragon House 1989
Poetry
Selected Poems
Riverrun Press 1988
Capital of Pain
Black Widow Press 2006
Love, Poetry Black Widow Press
2007
Last Love Poems of Paul Eluard Black Widow Press
2006
Prose
Death to the Pigs
Atlas Press 1988
Mad Balls
Atlas Press 1991
The Automatic Muse (contains Peret's The
Elegant Ewe ) Atlas Press 1994
Poetry
From the Hidden Storehouse
Oberlin College 1981
A Marvelous World Louisiana State University
Press 1985
Liberty or Love Atlas Press 1993
The Automatic Muse (contains
Desnos' Mourning for Mourning
) Atlas Press
1994
Essential Poems and Writings
Black Widow Press 2007
Selected Poems
The Ecco Press 1991
Modern French Theatre (includes
Desnos' play La Place De L'Etoile)
E.P. Dutton 1966
The Theatre and Its Double Grove Press 1994
Selected Writings
University of California Press 1988
Artaud
Anthology
City Lights Books 1965
Heliogabalus or The Crowned Anarchist
Solar Books 2007
Watchfiends & Rack Screams
Exact Change 2004
The Monk
Creation Books 2003
Artaud on Theatre
Methuen Drama 2001
Modern
French Theatre (includes
Artaud's play Jet of Blood )
E.P. Dutton
1966
Collected Works
Calder Publications 1974
Volume 1: Prose, Poetry & Letters
Volume 2: The Alfred Jarry Theatre
Volume 3: Scenarios on the Cinema, Interviews
& Letters
Volume 4: The Theatre and Its Double, The Cenci
& Theatre Docu- ments
Modern French Theatre (includes Vitrac's The Mysteries of Love) E.P. Dutton 1966
Lord Patchogue & Other
Texts Atlas Press 1993
4 Dada
Suicides Atlas Press
1995
Putting My Foot In It Dalkey Archive Press 1994
Difficult Death
North Point Press 1986
Babylon Sun
and Moon Press 1996
My Body and I
Archipelago Books 2005
Aurora Atlas Press 1990
The Automatic Muse (contains Leiris' The
Cardinal Point )
Atlas Press 1994
The
Rules of the Game
The Johns Hopkins University Press 1997
Manhood University Of Chicago Press
1992
Nights as Day, Days as Night
Eridanos Press 1987
Operratics
Green Integer 2001
Mirror of Tauromachy
Atlas Press 2007
Four Stories Atlas Press 1995
The Automatic Muse (contains
Limbour's The Polar Child )
Atlas Press 1994
Odile Dalkey Archive Press 1988
Pierrot Mon Ami
Atlas Press 1988
The Skin of Dreams
Atlas Press 1987
Zazie in the Metro
Penguin Classics 2001
The Blue Flowers
New Directions Publishing Corporation 1985
Exercises in Style New
Directions Publishing Corporation 1981
Selected Poems
Hearing Eye 2002
Paroles City Lights Books
1990
Surrealism by Patrick Waldberg
(contains the preface to the first issue of La
Revolution Surrealiste co-written by Boiffard)
Thames &
Hudson 1965
Hebdomeros & Other
Writngs Exact Change 2004
The Memoirs of
Giorgio de Chirico Da Capo
1994
Note: There are also numerous books of de Chirico's art. Two recommendations are DE CHIRICO by Paolo Baldacci, published by Bulfinch Press, and Giorgio de Chirico by Pere Gimferrer, published by Rizzoli International Publications.
Selected Poems of Rene
Char New Directions 1992
This Smoke That
Carried Us
White Pine Press 2004
Leaves
of Hypnos Penguin 1973
The Secret Life of Salvador
Dali DASA Edicions,
S.A. 1942
Diary of a
Genius
Creation Books 1994
Open Letter to
Salvador Dali
Heineman Paperbacks 1967
Hidden Faces
Peter Owen Publishers 1973
OUI Writings 1927-1933
Exact Change 1998
Dali on Modern Art
Dover Publications 1996
Fifty Secrets of Magic
Craftsmanship
Dial Press 1948
The
Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali Quartet Books 1977
Note: Of course, there is also a vast number of books featuring Dali's art. Recommended are the two volume Taschen set by Robert Descharnes and Gilles Neret, as well as Salvador Dali's Dream of Venus , which contains photographs of Dali's Surrealist Funhouse at the 1939 World's Fair.
An Unspeakable Betrayal
University of California Press
2000
My
Last Sigh
Vintage Books 1984
Objects of
Desire
(a book of conversations with Bunuel) MarsilioPublishers
1992
Luis Bunuel A Critical
Biography by Francisco Aranda
Da
Capo Press 1985
Bunuel A Biography
by John Baxter Fourth Estate 1994
Bunuel 100 Years (excellent book on Bunuel's
films with numerous pho- tographs) The Museum of Modern Art
2000
Note: Several of Bunuel's film scripts have also been published by the Federick Ungar Publishing Company.
Poetry
Poet in New York
The Noon Press 1988
Selected Verse
The Noon Press 1989
Collected Poems
Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1988
The Selected Poems of Federico Garcia
Lorca
New Directions 1955
Poem of the
Deep Song City Lights 1987
Drama
Once Five Years Pass and other dramatic
works
Station Hill Press 1986
The Public
and Play Without a Title
New Directions 1983
The Rural Trilogy (Blood Wedding, Yerma &
Bernardo Alba)
Bantam Books
1987
Plays (3 Volumes)
Methuen 1990
The Unknown Federico Garcia Lorca Atlas Press 1996
Prose
Barbarous Nights
City Lights 1991
In Search of Duende
New Directions 1998
Selected Letters New Directions
1983
Biography
Federico Garcia Lorca - A Life
by Ian Gibson Pantheon Books
1989
The Assassination
of Federico Garcia Lorca by Ian Gibson
Penguin
Publishing 1983
Lorca - A Dream of Life by Leslie Stainton Farrar
Straus & Giroux
1999
The Dedalus Book of Surrealism: The Identity of Things (contains Unik's Long Live the Bride!) Dedalus 1993
Works Selected by Marcel Marien Atlas Press 1995
Maldoror and the Complete Works
of the Comte de Lautreamont
Exact Change 2004
Maldoror and Poems
Penguin Classics 1988
Maldoror translated by Guy Wernham New
Directions Publishing 1965
Approximate Man and Other
Writings Black Widow Press
2005
Chanson
Dada: Selected Poems
Black Widow Press 2005
Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampisteries
Calder Publications 1981
Dada Performance
(contains 3 plays by Tzara) PAJ Publications 1987
Mount Analogue Gerald Duckworth & Co 2005
A Night of Serious
Drinking
Overlook Publishing 2003
The
Powers of the Word: Selected Essays and Notes
City Lights 1991
Rasa: Or Knowledge of the Self
Ekstasis Editions 2004
Modern French Drama
(includes Daumal's play En Gggarrde )
E.P. Dutton
1966
Black Mirror: Selected Poems Station Hill 1991
Story of the Eye City Lights 1977
Blue of Noon
Marion Boyars Publishers 2002
Inner Experience
State University of New York Press 1988
The
Accursed Share - Vol. 1
Zone Books 1991
The
Accursed Share - Vols. 2 and 3
Zone Books 1993
L'Abbe C Marion
Boyars Publishers 2001
Eroticism, Death & Sensuality
City Lights 1986
Literature and Evil
Marion Boyars Publishers 2001
The Tears of Eros
City Lights 1989
The Impossible
City Lights 1991
The Mother, Madame Edwarda &
The Dead Man
Marion Boyars Publishers
1995
Theory of Religion
Zone Books 1992
Trial of Gilles De Rais
Amok Books 1991
The Unfinished System Of Nonknowledge
University of Minnesota Press 2004
Visions of
Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939
University of Minnesota
Press 1985
On Nietzsche
Continuum International Publishing Group 2004
The Absence of Myth:
Writings on Surrealism
Verso 2006
Collected Poems
Dufour Editions 1998
Encyclopedia Acephalica Atlas Press
1995
RECOMMENDED READING
"Bash is one of the few contemporary
playwrights who captures the spirit of surrealism. In fact, surrealist
figures from the past, such as Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali and Paul Eluard,
appear as characters in a couple of his plays. Dream-like, funny, and
sometimes disturbing, SANCTUS FUMIGACI (which, in English, loosely
translates to "Holy Smoke") is recommended for fans of avant garde
literature and experimental theater."