[I should note first that I make no assertion of authority, and certainly do not mean to imply that those who may "misuse" the term "Surrealism" from lack of a broader understanding are somehow unworthy. My intention is only a good faith effort to nourish and advance what i see as a growing interest in a rekindled global Surrealist inquiry.]
***
Most people in the USA are unaware of the comprehensive scope of Surrealist activity, or that it continues today around the world. Instead, they think of "Surrealism" largely as a European "art movement" which effectively ended with the advent of WWII. But as Stuart points out, "art" -- especially visual art -- isn't a necessary, or perhaps even a very important element, in the larger movement which in fact had no visual expression at it's inception.
The misapprehension here is essentially the result of Dali (the posturing showman) having been the primary popular introduction to and distortion of "Surrealism" in the USA (prior to WWII). Painting was more accessible than text, especially the often difficult text of Surrealists, so it isn't hard to understand how Dali's stylistic work and extreme flamboyance became a defining symbol -- long after he was no longer recognized as a Surrealist by Surrealists.
For example, (I'm no historian so help me out if i go astray) according to the biography of Breton i just finished reading, Nadja was not available here in translation until 1960, and the manifestoes weren't available here in translation until 1969.
Meanwhile, as we all know, during those same 60's, a very important cultural upheaval was taking place in the world which certainly had relevance to Surrealism, and saw it become the subject of some study, however limited the reference materials were. Because it's most important defining documents were not generally available, the perception of "Surrealism" here remained very limited and it's revolutionary significance deteriorated as it became trivialized by mass media and eventually made synonomous with the spectacle of Salvador Dali strolling onto the set of the Dick Cavett show with a restless pet anteater on a leash.
[The insights of the Situationists (who owed much to Surrealism) were equally relevant, equally unavialable (The Society of the Spectacle, 1967, didn't appear here in translation until the mid-to-late '70's), and equally misrepresented by the distortions of emerging post-modernists.]
as an aside:
Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i suspect that the more "informed" events of May '68 in Paris, compared with diversionary spectacles like "Earth Day" and "Woodstock" in the USA, may go a long way toward explaining why Paris can still be shaken with an occasional general strike, while people in the USA watch silently as AT&T announces the firing of 40,000 people -- which treachery the financial class rewards with higher stock prices, and workers react by working even harder for longer hours so "productivity" continues to improve.
~~barrett
[posted to a surrealist discussion group in 1996]
