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Books 79 Rosemont does not let a reader have doubts about his opinions. Hyperbole is Rosemont’s style. For example, Lautreamont appears in these pages as more than just a significantinfluenceon the Surrealists. Instead, his influence‘on surrealism has been and remains of unparalleled magnitude and depth. I confessthat I find it impossible to givean adequatesense of Lautreamont’s towering majesty; impossible to convey more than the vaguest glimmer of the supremely formidable, oceanic cruelty he unleashed against everything petty and snivelling.To describe him merely as the greatest poet of all time would be to say too little’ (p. 13). When Rosemont criticizes the views of others, his tone is just as assertive. It is not enough for him to dispute them; he has to condemn them. After discussing Automatism and its origins. to citea typical example. Rosemont derides‘thecompetence of many of our highly paid scholarswho in actuality are little more than skilled practitioners of the sin of omission, shameless perpetrators of spurious discoveries, insinuators of malevolent gossip, and in some cases outright liars’ (p. 23). The source of all this passion lies in the author’s own commitment to Surrealism and particularly to Breton. What is Surrealism? ‘Contrary to prevalent misdefinitions’, Rosemont says, ‘surrealism is not an aesthetic doctrine, nor a philosophical system, nor a mere literary or artistic school. It is an underlying revolt against a civilization that reduces all human aspirations to market values, religious impostures, universal boredom and misery’ (p. I). Later Rosemont adds that, ‘Surrealism is not a fragmentary critique; it leaves no stone unturned. It is a revolution, not merely in Art but in every aspect of life’ (p. 67). This overriding concept occasionally leads Rosemont into surprising simplifications. For example, he argues that ‘the simpletruth is that in 1927 the overthrow of bourgeois society (a prerequisite for the full fruition of surrealism) seemed possible only through the agency of the Communist Party’ (p. 38). Rosemont must know that the truth is never ‘simple’. At the end of the book Rosemont declares that Surrealism ‘today could be succinctly defined, in fact, as the only consistent and thoroughgoing expression ofaritirniserabilisrn’(p. 126, his emphasis). This statement holds up a bit better, but I havedoubtsabout the ‘only’ in this sentence. Breton is, of course, the author’s hero-and it is proper to call him that given the tone in which Rosemont discusses him. For Rosemont, Breton never wavered, never faltered. While other surrealists became opportunists, if not outright traitors, Breton remained true to the ‘cause’. This portrayal of Breton has a bigger-than-lifeand hence unconvincing air about it. But there is no question that by Rosemont’s standards and by the documentation he provides, Breton was bigger-than-life. If this book is about Surrealism and Breton, it is also about Rosemont’s own views on Surrealism and Breton and, by extension, about the writing of history. As I read the book I thought how appropriate Rosemont’s style really was for his subject. That is to say, if Surrealism is a total revolution against the ‘miserabilism’of today, then shouldn’t a book on Surrealism embrace the language and tenor of revolt?This bookdoes. And I also thought about the point Peter Gay raised in Style i n History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974):the subjectivityand the bias of the historian should be valued precisely because of the special insights they can permit, insights that would be lost by a more ‘analytical’ and ‘objective’ approach. Rosemont’s book is subjective, and clearly it is filled with insights. The companion book, What is Surrealism?, is a most welcome collection of writings by Breton. Many of these texts are here available in Englishfor the first time. Both books deserveserious consideration in any future statements on Surrealism. Photomontages of the Nazi Period. John Heartfield. Gordon Fraser Publications, in association with Universe Books, London, 1977. 143 pp.. illus. f7.00. Reviewed by Gerhard H. Miiller* The book on the ‘inventor’ of photomontages, John Heartfield [Helmut Herzfeld] who ‘challenged militarism and assumed an English name. in defiance of chauvinists’ (p. 23). covers the artistic, political, historical and literary aspects of Heartfield’s work with emphasis on...

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