"Ni dans le monde sensible, ni sensiblement en dehors de ce monde": The Occultation of Surrealism and Rimbaud's Assassins

This article considers the "profound, veritable occultation of surrealism" André Breton calls for in the Second manifeste—often interpreted as an allying with occultism—in relation to Rimbaud and his invocation of the Assassins, an Ismaelite sect where death figured as an initiation into immortality. Linking Breton's call for occultation to the problems raised with regard to Rimbaud, it will be shown how "occultation," as the destruction of opposites that ought to merge together in a single "point de l'esprit," can be seen as such an initiation, aimed at bringing about the imagination's "revanche éclatante."