La Révolution Surréaliste

La Révolution surréaliste (English: The Surrealist Revolution) was a publication by the Surrealists in Paris. Twelve issues were published between 1924 and 1929.

Shortly after releasing the first Surrealist Manifesto, André Breton published the inaugural issue of La Révolution surréaliste on December 1, 1924.

Pierre Naville and Benjamin Péret were the initial directors of the publication and modeled the format of the journal on the conservative scientific review La Nature. The format was deceiving, and to the Surrealists' delight, La Révolution surréaliste was consistently scandalous and revolutionary. The journal focused on writing with most pages densely packed with columns of text, but also included reproductions of art, among them works by Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, André Masson and Man Ray.

Issue 1 (December 1924): The cover of the initial issue announced the revolutionary agenda of La Révolution surréaliste with, "It is necessary to start work on a new declaration of the rights of man."

In a mock scientific fashion the journal explored issues related to the darker sides of the human psyche with articles focused on violence, death and suicide. Detached descriptions of violent crime taken from police reports, and an impartial survey on suicide were included.

Issue 3 (April 1925): The cover of the third issue announced, "End of the Christian Era." Inside articles convey a blasphemous and anticlerical tone. Writer and actor Antonin Artaud wrote an open letter, "Address to the Pope," and expresses the revolt against what Surrealists saw as oppressive religious values: "The world is the soul's abyss, warped Pope, Pope foreign to the soul. Let us swim in our own bodies, leave our souls within our souls; we have no need of your knife-blade of enlightenment." Such anticlerical remarks are found throughout and reflect the group's relentless campaign against oppression and bourgeois morality.

Issue 4: Breton announced in the fourth issue that he was taking over the publication. His concern about disruptive factions that had developed in the Surrealist group brought him to assert his power and restate the Surrealist principles as he conceived them.

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