[lbo-talk] Surrealists and homosexuality

wrobert at uci.edu wrobert at uci.edu
Thu Jun 4 19:21:07 PDT 2009


I think it really depends how seriously you take Breton's role as the Pope of surrealism. But, there is no way to escape the fact that Breton was extremely homophobic. Evidently, there were some very uncomfortable moments with the New York surrealist group on this question. robert wood


> I just found this and it's thrown me for a
> loop. There's doesn't seem to be room for interpretation here:
>
>
> http://www.iheartmyart.com/post/76651233/surrealists-and-homophobia
>
>
> It is strange that surrealism which was one of
> the most avant-guard and experimental movements
> had a strong undercurrent of homophobia that tore
> through its ranks. While the group had an openly
> gay member, René Crevel, this did not influence
> the views of other members, and most pointedly
> the main founder of surrealism, André Breton.
> Breton was unabashedly homophobic and openly
> condemned it. Upon review of many of the
> surrealists works, it is clear that their
> revolutionary tone has a compulsive tendency
> towards heterosexuality and reiterated
> conventions of male domination and sexual domination.
>
> Surrealists adamantly documented all of their
> discussions and their homophobia is superbly documented accordingly.
>
> On January 27, 1928 they met in Paris for the
> first session of the “Researches sur la
> Sexualite”. The tone of the gathering resembled ,
> “those excited gatherings of public-schoolboys,
> masturbating over their collective sexual
> experiences and fantasies.” Contrary to popular
> thought that sees surrealism’s views of sexuality
> as progressive and revolutionary, it becomes
> clear that most of the surrealist’s beliefs
> reiterated conventions of the time that
> objectified woman and her body as the central and
> concentrated object of lust and masculine desire.
> Masturbation and sodomy (of the female body) were
> acceptable but homosexuality was condemned.
>
> At the “Researches” session the following conversation took place:
>
> Pierre Unik: From a physical point of view I find
> homosexuality as disgusting as excrements and
> from a moral point of view I condemn it.
> Raymond Queneau: It is evident to me that there
> is an extraordinary prejudice against homosexuality among the surrealists.
> André Breton: I accuse homosexuals of confronting
> human tolerance with a mental and moral
> deficiency which tends to turn itself into a
> system and to paralyze every enterprise I respect.
>
> The debate continues until Breton makes a final threat of leaving:
>
> André Breton: Do people want me to abandon this
> discussion? I am quite happy to demonstrate my obscurantism on this
> subject.
>
> Although there were protests from some members of the group.
>
> Bejamin Peret: What do you think of homosexuality ?
> Raymond Queneau: From what point of view? Moral?
> Bejamin Peret: If you like?
> Raymond Queneau: If two men love each other, I
> have no moral objections to their physical relations.
>
> The session and the resulting document for
> surrealist records was signed by fifteen male
> members of the group; women and gay men
> associated with surrealism were absent from the
> proceedings. It is possible that they were intentionally excluded.
>
> “Andre Breton exemplifies the pervasive social
> attitude towards homosexuality in our culture, an
> attitude which violently suppresses and effaces
> homosexuals. He was obsessively anti-homosexual,
> and refused to include the subject of
> homosexuality in surrealist research, on the
> grounds of its moral incorrectness.”
>
> Excerpts from Canonical Criminalizations:
> Homosexuality, Art History, Surrealism, and Abjection
>
>
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