Given that the Surrealists were initially met with widespread incomprehension, mercilessly ridiculed, and treated as madmen, it is remarkable that more than one hundred years on we still feel the vitality and continued popularity of the movement today.

As Willard Bohn demonstrates, Surrealism was not just a French phenomenon but one that eventually encompassed much of the world. Concentrating on the movement's theory and practice, this extraordinarily broad-ranging book documents the spread of Surrealism throughout the western hemisphere and examines keys texts, critical responses, and significant writers. The latter include three extraordinarily talented individuals who were eventually awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (Andre Breton, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz). Like their Surrealist colleagues, they strove to free human beings from their unconscious chains so that they could realize their true potential.

One Hundred Years of Surrealist Poetry explores not only the birth but also the ongoing life of a major literary movement.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. André Breton and Automatic Writing
2. Revisiting the Surrealist Image
3. Paul Eluard and Surrealist Love
4. Surrealism and the Poetic Act
5. José María Hinojosa and Early Spanish Surrealism
6. Federico García Lorca
7. J. V. Foix and Catalan Surrealism
8. Portuguese Experiments with Surrealism
9. Octavio Paz
10. South American Surrealists

Coda
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index