Introduction

Almost two years after the liberation of Paris, in May 1946, Breton came home to 42, Rue Fontaine. Immediately, he instigated renewed surrealist group sessions at the Café des Deux Magots. The addition of new blood was imperative as there were few first and second generation surrealists in Paris; Ernst, Tanguy, Dominguez and Matta, for instance, had remained in the US, Carrington and others had settled in Mexico, while Brauner travelled extensively and did not stay in Paris for long. During the war, Éluard, who had remained in France and joined the resistance, had become a committed Stalinist. Desnos had been killed by the Nazis. Masson had returned to Paris but remained estranged from Breton, which made the latter the only one of the old guard in Paris until Péret's return from South America. From the moment of his return, the French press was panting expectantly on Breton's doorstep: what exciting new events to expect from Surrealism? Meanwhile, the new intellectuals on the political left, the existentialists, together with the communists, were loudly declaring Surrealism passé. Moreover, because of the absence of nearly all the surrealists during the war, Surrealism had become suspect. Critics and intellectuals were stymied, even outraged, by Breton's wartime publications, Arcanum 17 and Ode to Fourier. Many were very disappointed and considered that the recent conflict ‘should [have led] to a rigorously political point of view’ within the framework of either communism or existentialism, and not to discussions of tarot cards, fairies and obscure utopians. What did Breton have to say for himself and his movement?

Breton was undaunted. He organised a grand exhibition in 1947 and confronted his critics head on: