‘Limits not frontiers: surrealist resistance to nationalism, patriotism, and militarism’

Fijalkowski, Krzysztof (2022) ‘Limits not frontiers: surrealist resistance to nationalism, patriotism, and militarism’. In: The Routledge Companion to Surrealism. Routledge.

Abstract

This chapter, a contribution to a critical survey of the key ideas of the international surrealist movement, looks at the movement’s attitude to inter-connected questions of nation and national identity on the one hand, and national military attitudes and practices on the other. While maintaining a critical perspective on contemporary history and politics, the French surrealist group of the 1920s, 1930s and beyond were resolute in their rejection of national identity as part of their wider critique of western values and concepts – for example, promoting German philosophy and literature in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. With many in the French surrealist group seeing active service in First and Second World Wars, and the lives and livelihoods of all surrealists having been adversely impacted by international conflict, surrealism opposed all enemies of liberty, especially totalitarian positions, but also promoted a vigorous anti-militaristic ethic explored in key critical texts and collaborative statements.

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