Founded by André Breton in 1924, Surrealism sought to examine the unconscious realm by means of the written and/or spoken word. Seeking to expand the ability of language to evoke irrational
states and improbable events, it consistently strove to transcend the linguistic status quo. By stretching language to its limits and beyond, the Surrealists transformed it into an instrument
for exploring the human psyche. The twenty-four poets in the present collection come not only from France, where Surrealism was invented, but also from Spain, Belgium, Egypt, Martinique,
Mauritius, Mexico, Chile, and Peru. Three of them were eventually awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (Vicente Aleixandre, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz). Equipped with a critical
introduction and a brief bibliography, this anthology will appeal to anyone interested in modern poetry.
