Poems of Andre Breton: A Bilingual Anthology: A Bilingual Anthology

This is an important book in the Surrealist canon.

I have never before seen a bilingual anthology of Andre Breton's poems. I was excited to see it available. I have looked through it and look forward to reading it. Thank you.

English and French texts, a must have for anyone who enjoys surrealist poetry. You can really see the how this type of poetry attributes to the imagery of surrealist artwork.

Great imagery must be savored over and enjoyed in both French & English

Most of these poems are purely surrealistic, and some others include political and social statements or hints, the "Ode to Fourier" being the most important of these ones. Charles Fourier, a Frenchman from the XIX century, was the creator of "Utopic socialism", which viewed Socialism's mission as the building of a completely new civilization, and not the reform of the existing ones. Breton and most of the Surrealistic movement were politically opinionated, and supporters of Communist parties and Communism in general (although they never lived in a Communist society; much on the contrary, they enjoyed very much the advantages and comfort of the West, always indulgent with its hypocritical intellectuals).But, beyond his political opinions, Breton was an extremely important poet and, I would say, a very enjoyable one. That is, if you enjoy poetry for the sake of poetry. In his purely poetical poems, you won't find clear or straightforward messages: it's just the flow of thought and feeling being automatically translated into the paper. The best ones are: "Fata Morgana", "Pleine Marge", "Les Etats Generales", and "Oubliés". These poems are not easy to read, but they are extremely creative in the best sense of the term. Onirical images, impossible, absurd, with passages and sentences of an incredible and totally unexpected beauty. I think that the best form to read them is to indulge in the wording and following it right through the end. You may reread later to better appreciate the images.

subjective choices, no always the best, being bilingual makes it good tho