Sources

The literature on surrealism in poetry is vast and various in quality. This list is curated for sources I find especially helpful.

Intro to Surrealism

• The First Manifest of Surrealism, Andre Breton

• The Poetry of Surrealism: An Anthology: Michael Benedikt

• What is Surrealism? Andre Breton, ed. Franklin Rosemont

• A Boatload of Madmen: Surrealism and the American Avant-Garde, Dickran Tashjian

• Surrealist Painters and Poets, Ed. Mary Anne Caws

• The Theory and Techniques of Surrealist Poetry by Alan Gullette

• The Rise of Surrealism: Cubism, Dada, and the Pursuit of the Marvelous, Willard Bohn

Surrealism in American Poetry

• Andrew Joron, Neo-Surrealism: Or, the Sun at Night

• Brooks Lampe, Surrealist Poetics in American Poetry

• Robert Bly, Leaping Poetry

• Kayak magazine, George Hitchcock, ed.

• Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School: Martica Sawin

• Surrealist influence in Latin-American poetry

• Holy Barbarians; the impact of Surrealism and the Beat generation on human values and the rise of the New Left (Michael Fry) | Scribd

• Nothing to Say & Saying It: Who are the Contemporary American Surrealists and what do they want?

• “The tension is in the concept”: John Ashbery’s surrealism

• Borkhuis, Charles. “Writing from Inside Language: Late Surrealism and Textual Poetry in France and the United States.” In Telling It Slant: Avant-Garde Poetics of the 1990s. Ed. Mark Wallace and Steven Marks.

Surrealist Classics

• The Songs of Maldoror, by Isidore Ducasse

• Approximate Man and Other Writings, Tristan Tzara

• Nadjia, by Andre Breton

• The Collected Poetry of Aimé Cesare

• Surrealist Women: An Anthology, ed. Penelope Rosemont

• Black, Brown & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa & the Diaspora, ed. Franklin Rosemont

• Surrealist Poetry in English (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics): Various, Edward B. Germain

Digging Deeper

• Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton, Mark Polizotti

• “Semantic Incompatibilities in Automatic Writing.” Michael Riffaterre.

• Surrealism USA: Peter Blume, Arshile Gorky, André Masson, Kay Sage

• Surrealism and the Book : Renee Riese Hubert

• Everyday Life: Theories and Practices from Surrealism to the Present: Michael Sheringham

• The Haunted Self: Surrealism, Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity: Mr. David Lomas

• Surrealism, Insanity, and Poetry: J. H. Matthews

• Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute: Anna Balakian

• “The Tide,” Garrett Caples on Objective Chance

• Antonio Gramsci on Surrealism and the Avantgarde

• Joe Weil | Metaphor as Foundation of Consciousness

• The Ecstasy of Influence, Jonathan Lethem

Guides to Writing Poetry

• The Portable Poetry Workshop, by Jack Meyers

• How to Read a Poem, by Edward Hirsch

• The Making of a Poem, Norton Anthology

• Western Wind: an Introduction to Poetry (textbook, good)