And ever since I have had a great desire to show forbearance to
scientific musing, however unbecoming, in the final analysis, from
every point of view. Radio? Fine. Syphilis?
If you like. Photography? I don't see any reason why not. The
cinema? Three cheers for darkened years. War? Gave
us a good laugh. The telephone? Hello. Youth? Charming white hair.
Try to make me say thank you: "Thank you."
Thank you.
Andre Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism
(Surrealism) declares that it is able, by its own means, to uproot thought from an increasingly cruel state of
thralldom, to steer it back onto the path of total comprehension,
return it to its original purity.
Andre Breton, Second Manifesto of Surrealism
The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down into the street,
pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as
you can pull the trigger, into the crowd.
Andre Breton, Second Manifesto of Surrealism
Surrealism, as I envisage it, proclaims loudly enough our absolute
nonconformity, that there may be no question
of calling it, in the case
against the real world, as a witness for the defense. It could only
account, on the contrary, for the complete state of distraction which we
hope to attain here below. Kant's absentmindedness
about women,
Pasteur's absentmindedness about "grapes," Curie's absentmindedness
about vehicles, are in this respect, deeply symptomatic*.
Andre Breton, 1924, Manifeste du Surrealisme
*There is an ascending gradation here in the consequences of
absentmindedness. Kant was a confirmed bachelor who completely
ignored women all his life. Pasteur on the other hand was involved once
in a rather ridiculous incident when, during a meal, he carefully washed
grapes in a glass of water, explaining to his guests the importance of
eliminating germs from food--and then, distracted, drank the soiled
water in the glass. As for Curie, his absentmindedness caused his death:
he was run over by a carriage and killed while crossing a street.
Marcel Jean, The Autobiography of Surrealism, p. 125
