About the Book

In 1941, as the Vichy regime consolidated its control of France, Andr xE9; Breton left the country for the island of Martinique. A poet and the principal founder of surrealism, Breton did not stay long, but his visit inspired the essays and poems of this book. Martinique: Snake Charmer is one of surrealism x2019;s most important texts, and it has been called x201C;the most beautiful of all books x201D; about the island. (Martinique: Snake Charmer also includes nine evocative drawings by the surrealist Andr xE9; Masson, a companion of Breton x2019;s during his stay on the island.) First collected into a single volume in 1948 and in print in France ever since, this is the first English translation of a work that, in series editor Franklin Rosemont x2019;s view, seeks x201C;not merely to question the dogmas and platitudes of so-called common sense and x2018;established facts, x2019; but to deviate from them, absolutely, in an imaginative quest for new and untried solutions to society x2019;s gravest problems. x201D; In the tropical beauty of Martinique, Breton found what he called x201C;the Marvelous x201D;; he also found outrageous greed, corruption, and colonial brutality. His guide through this schizophrenic place was Aim xE9; C xE9;saire, a Martinican surrealist and writer who Breton later championed in the book x2019;s most important essay, x201C;A Great Black Poet. x201D; Breton recognized how C xE9;saire and others had adapted surrealism to the specific conditions of the West Indies, enriching the movement in ways he could not have imagined. As a result, Breton never succumbed to the gloom that afflicted postwar Europe. He and C xE9;saire and others continued the surrealists x2019;quest undaunted, propelled in large part by the spirit they captured in this dynamic book.

Product Details

Media: Hardcover Book, 117 pages

Language: English

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Edition: Unknown

ISBN-10: 0292717652

Publication Date: May. 1st, 2008

ISBN-13: 9780292717657

Dimensions: 5.40 x 8.20 x 0.60 inches

Shipping Weight: 0.60 lbs

• Categories: General Carribean History