Abstract:
Surrealism is dead. At any rate, that is the conclusion one
might be tempted to draw in England. In France and America interest
in the movement has been kept alive by intermittent discussion; but
in England this has not been the case. In the latter country,
little critical thought has been applied to the subject, apparently,
since the middle of the thirties. This present thesis constitutes an attempt to fill the gap. In examining surrealism both before
and after its overt eclat in England, I hope to put it into
meaningful historical perspective ; this may help in arriving at the
essence of the overt, by penetrating the sensationalism that has hitherto tended to obscure it.
