French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Lo Giudice, L'Amour surréaliste
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Anna Lo Giudice, L'Amour surréaliste

Paris, Klincksieck, coll. "50 questions" no. 44, November 14, 2008, 180 p.

ISBN (EAN13): 9782252036884

16 euros

Publisher's overview:

"Rather life itself" could be read on the walls of Paris in 1968. It was the title of a poem by André Breton. Indeed, the Surrealists sought to "re-enchant" life through love, the keystone of the surrealist revolution.
To open the doors to surreality, Breton invited us to experience mad love (l'amour fou), to restore man's lost powers, to deepen reality through the resolution of antinomies, to watch for the Marvelous, to heed the call of desire here and now, to make ourselves receptive to the "wind of the possible," to decipher those "petrifying coincidences" born of "objective chance"...
This book offers a meticulous re-reading of Breton's writings to highlight the pivotal role that love plays in his vision of art and the world. It constantly reminds us that if we know dream and waking life to be two "communicating vessels," and that poetry, freedom, and boundless imagination are within our reach, we owe it to Surrealism.

Table of Contents:

I. Love, under the sign of passion at the foundation of the surrealist revolution

II. Ideas of love. Reasons for love

III. Love to be reinvented

IV. Woman first and foremost

V. Language, speech, signs, and signals of surrealist love

VI. Love as experienced by André Breton

Anna Lo Giudice examines how the avant-garde movement founded by André Breton positioned passion as the ultimate cornerstone of human liberation and artistic creation. By tracing core concepts such as objective chance and l'amour fou, the study illuminates how these writers sought to dissolve the rigid boundaries between dream and waking reality. The volume situates these aesthetics within early twentieth-century intellectual history, highlighting an ongoing quest to restore humanity's imaginative capacities through subversive encounters and poetic revelation.

This accessible volume is particularly valuable for students and scholars of modern French literature, surrealist aesthetics, and the philosophy of art. It serves as a clear guide for readers seeking to understand how poetic language and desire intertwine within surrealist texts. The work offers fresh analytical perspectives on Breton's oeuvre, helping researchers navigate the complex intersections of revolutionary politics, gender dynamics, and personal intimacy that defined the movement's enduring legacy.