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The Magnetic Fields
Les Champs magnétiques (1920; The Magnetic Fields) is known as the first major surrealist work.
115 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
About the author
André Breton
269 books732 followersAfter World War I, French poet and literary theorist André Breton began to link at first with Dadaism but broke with that movement to write the first manifesto of surrealism in 1924.
People best know this theorist as the principal founder. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme), in which he defined this "pure psychic automatism."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3...
People best know this theorist as the principal founder. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme), in which he defined this "pure psychic automatism."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
July 11, 2018
If the eyes are the mirror of the soul then the language is the mirror of the mind… It’s enough to make a mirror a little bit concave or convex and then the reflections will be full of new wondrous meanings and colours.
This way the journey commences… Or probably continues… Or maybe we’re just going nowhere and all the world is locked inside our heads.
Surreality is impossible to prove but is unavoidable…
The corridors of the big hotels are empty and the cigar smoke is hiding. A man comes down the stairway and notices that it's raining; the windows are white. We sense the presence of a dog lying near him. All possible obstacles are present. There is a pink cup; an order is given and without haste the servants respond. The great curtains of the sky draw open. A buzzing protests this hasty departure. Who can run so softly? The names lose their faces. The street becomes a deserted track.
About four o'clock that same day a very tall man was crossing the bridge that joins the separate islands. The bells, or perhaps it was the trees, struck the hour. He thought he heard the voices of his friends speaking: “The office of lazy trips is to the right,” they called to him, “and on Saturday the painter will write to you.” The neighbors of solitude leaned forward and through the night was heard the whistling of streetlamps.
This way the journey commences… Or probably continues… Or maybe we’re just going nowhere and all the world is locked inside our heads.
The nocturnes of dead musicians lull the cities sunk in endless slumber. On the outdoor flight of steps of a hotel on Thirtieth Avenue a baby gambols with a puppy. No, you can form no idea of aquatic mores simply by looking through tears, that’s just not true. Space soft as a woman’s hand belongs to speed. Gradually one draws nearer to scrub-lands and markets. The depth of the Market-halls is less than that of the Pacific Ocean. The thick much-thumbed books become abandoned shells full of earth.
Surreality is impossible to prove but is unavoidable…
June 28, 2020
The birth of surrealism. Which was, in terms of literature, like no other birth.
From the section titled 'Barriers' which was my favourite part of the book.
— No thanks, I know what time it is. Have you been shut up in this cage for long? What I need is the address of your tailor.
— He was yet another trouble-maker. Memoirs are full of such grim casualties returning from ancient civilizations and taking stealthy looks in the waters they had taken care not to disturb.
— The best memories are the shortest and, if you believe this, look at the hustled manias of those house-painters. The bride is running no one knows where and we have no more matches.
— I've often been the victim of nocturnal assaults. In order not to be detained, I turned pale and stammered little stars which satisfied people. Those who took part all through the winter in profitless expeditions didn't find the days as short as you say they did.
— Since childhood I have been recommended to a domestic animal and yet I have always preferred to the warmth of its tongue on my cheek a little tale of bygone times.
— Calm yourself. It is two steps or two kilometers from here to where fora few francs the still-born blind are operated on. Are you the surgeon?
— Are you joking? Ash Wednesday is a fine day for coachmen, but, if you insist, we will enter those moonless streets in which charming arbours are all the thing.
— I don't know where you want to hurry me off to. I rather distrust your pieces of orange peel that you have dropped like so many little rainbows on the paths.
September 6, 2021
“The window carved in our flesh opens onto our heart. There can be seen an enormous lake on which at noon russet dragon-flies as fragrant as peony-finches come to settle. What is that big tree around which the animals go to look at one another? we’ve been pouring out drinking water for it for centuries. Its throat is drier than straw and there are huge deposits of ash in it. This is also considered laughable but one must not look too long with long-sight lenses. Everyone can pass through this bleeding corridor in which our sins are hung up, delightful pictures in which however grey predominates.”
So, yeah, pretty much boring linearity.
Honestly, this short manifesto (what else is it besides a revolution of conscious intellectual surrender?) is beyond reproach in its gorgeousness. Breton gives form to a new philosophy here, and it’s just all too beautiful. Open to any page and read a paragraph—the wash of words, the music in them, is the whole deal. Free of narrative, the frequency of pure, gushing prose provides something to find your own meaning within.
What a blessing to find a new Eternal Book at my age. I count stars, lucky.
So, yeah, pretty much boring linearity.
Honestly, this short manifesto (what else is it besides a revolution of conscious intellectual surrender?) is beyond reproach in its gorgeousness. Breton gives form to a new philosophy here, and it’s just all too beautiful. Open to any page and read a paragraph—the wash of words, the music in them, is the whole deal. Free of narrative, the frequency of pure, gushing prose provides something to find your own meaning within.
What a blessing to find a new Eternal Book at my age. I count stars, lucky.
December 5, 2020
More than nonsense, though it makes no sense, this automatically written surreal shot across the bows of literature holds together as a narrative almost magically. I don’t know how they did it, but I’m following them down the rabbit hole.
November 11, 2014
Andre Breton’s The Magnetic Fields, written in 1919, is a wonderful piece of writing; like a painting for the imagination made out of words, instead of lines and shapes. It is surreal; but it is not word salad, more like word magic. Wonderful images cascade upon wonderful images that I want to hold in my brain and try not to forget. Some of it is written in the form of poetry and some is prose. All of it is beautiful in its own way. I loved this and want it to be part of my permanent collection but it appears to be out of print, and used copies are a bit pricey. I was glad to be able to get a copy from the library. I will probably savor this one a little longer and I am sure I will check it out again at some point.
Some small examples of the writing style:
“ I have a sinister mark on the inner side of my arm, a blue M which threatens me. “
“ Street-singers, the world is wide and you will never succeed.”
“I swear to you that I am innocent. You mistake the burning tip of my cigarette for the pupil of my eye.”
I could quote the whole book. It has so many delightful turns of phrase. Highly recommended to those who enjoy this type of writing. 5 stars and best reads pile.
Some small examples of the writing style:
“ I have a sinister mark on the inner side of my arm, a blue M which threatens me. “
“ Street-singers, the world is wide and you will never succeed.”
“I swear to you that I am innocent. You mistake the burning tip of my cigarette for the pupil of my eye.”
I could quote the whole book. It has so many delightful turns of phrase. Highly recommended to those who enjoy this type of writing. 5 stars and best reads pile.
June 20, 2024
In the disillusionment following WWI and the Spanish Flu, André Breton and Philippe Soupault dreamt up a radical writing experiment. In a whirlwind week, fueled by forbidden fruit – the burgeoning field of psychoanalysis – they would unleash their subconscious onto the page. No revisions, no second thoughts.
Their aim? To tap into the unfiltered wellspring of the unconscious, a realm far purer than the tired tropes of traditional literature. They mimicked the method of psychoanalysts, channeling dream logic and imagery through a technique called "automatic writing." Think stream of consciousness on overdrive, a wild, uncensored monologue bypassing the critical mind.
Breton and Soupault, disciples of Freud, believed dream symbolism held hidden truths. By dissecting the jarring collisions of these images, one could unlock their deeper meaning. Yet, beneath the surface chaos, flickers of personal history and anxieties emerge. Dream bleeds into reflection, a poignant tapestry woven from loss and grief. The dedication to their friend Jacques Vaché, a suicide victim that same year, and the recent passing of another hero, Guillaume Apollinaire, loom large.
"The Magnetic Fields" invites us to linger in these dream-like vignettes, to savor their fleeting beauty and perplexing contradictions. It's a testament to the power of free association, a glimpse into the fertile ground from which Surrealism sprouted. So, what becomes of these passionate outbursts, these fleeting moments of joy amidst the jaded world? We find ourselves adrift, gazing upon the fading light of dead stars, our mouths parched and our eyes vacant. Yet, there's a strange delight in the absurdity, a perverse pleasure in the capricious house bleeding and the neighbors of solitude whispering through the night. After all, isn't death a constant companion, a slow drumbeat echoing in the distance? What better hope can we grasp than the fleeting beauty of the here and now?
Important, unique, influential and beautiful. However, the coherence feels like a chatgpt beta:
"Crime of adolescents
Epsom salts
River of chapped hands
Palace of festivals and dawns
Red red the song
The sweet sugar becomes colour green
Blanched sensations
Courage virgin blotter
A fly makes old men scared
A brain is discovered..."
Oh 🇫🇷
Their aim? To tap into the unfiltered wellspring of the unconscious, a realm far purer than the tired tropes of traditional literature. They mimicked the method of psychoanalysts, channeling dream logic and imagery through a technique called "automatic writing." Think stream of consciousness on overdrive, a wild, uncensored monologue bypassing the critical mind.
Breton and Soupault, disciples of Freud, believed dream symbolism held hidden truths. By dissecting the jarring collisions of these images, one could unlock their deeper meaning. Yet, beneath the surface chaos, flickers of personal history and anxieties emerge. Dream bleeds into reflection, a poignant tapestry woven from loss and grief. The dedication to their friend Jacques Vaché, a suicide victim that same year, and the recent passing of another hero, Guillaume Apollinaire, loom large.
"The Magnetic Fields" invites us to linger in these dream-like vignettes, to savor their fleeting beauty and perplexing contradictions. It's a testament to the power of free association, a glimpse into the fertile ground from which Surrealism sprouted. So, what becomes of these passionate outbursts, these fleeting moments of joy amidst the jaded world? We find ourselves adrift, gazing upon the fading light of dead stars, our mouths parched and our eyes vacant. Yet, there's a strange delight in the absurdity, a perverse pleasure in the capricious house bleeding and the neighbors of solitude whispering through the night. After all, isn't death a constant companion, a slow drumbeat echoing in the distance? What better hope can we grasp than the fleeting beauty of the here and now?
Important, unique, influential and beautiful. However, the coherence feels like a chatgpt beta:
"Crime of adolescents
Epsom salts
River of chapped hands
Palace of festivals and dawns
Red red the song
The sweet sugar becomes colour green
Blanched sensations
Courage virgin blotter
A fly makes old men scared
A brain is discovered..."
Oh 🇫🇷
Read
November 22, 2020I wanted to write something about Andre Breton's and Philippe Soupault's The Magnetic Fields, but I don't know if or how I can. It defies traditional categories, and is about as pristine an example of Breton's thesis of “pure psychic automatism” as one can imagine. I don't know how much of the text is Breton's, and how much is Soupault's, and I don't know how two people could possibly collaborate on something as reliant on the imagination as The Magnetic Fields, even if they use the exquisite-corpse technique. The imagery is stunning, which is the most I think one could hope for from something this purely surrealist, but is The Magnetic Fields valuable as a coherent whole? I don't know. I think that if I ask this, I'm probably asking the wrong questions.
Read
November 7, 2023Bu kitabı heyecanla alıp, ilk yarıyı okuduktan sonra bir kenara bırakalı en az bir yıl geçmiştir. Şimdi, öyle bir merakla tekrar elime alıp ikinci yarıyı okudum ve doğru zamanda olsa gerek keyifliydi. İlk yarı daha şiirsel ve aforizmamsı parçalardan oluşurken, ikinci kısımsa absürt ve kısa tiyatro metinlerinden ibaret. Şemsiye, Sabahlık ve Dikiş Makinası ile ilgili olanı sevdim özellikle.
September 8, 2007
It will make you the prisoner of a drop of water.
December 5, 2021
solitary orgies
August 17, 2022
words and sentences
June 15, 2017
What do they mean? Who cares it beautiful and strange and carries you somewhere. These read like dreams. Not streams of consciousness but pools of unconsciousness. The sun is arrested and it pukes. Here are a few of my favorites:
There are wizards so destitute that they use their cauldrons to boil the clouds and that's not the end of the matter....
There were delightful displays of childish temper about those succulent plants that can never be applied to corns, they're were fleur de lys preserved in brandy when you fell over.....
We touch those tender stars which filled our dreams with our fingers....
All of us laugh all of us sing but nobody feels his heart beat any longer....
Our prison is built of well loved books but we can no longer escape because of all the passionate odors that send us to sleep.....
True stars of our eyes how long do you take to revolve around our heads?
The window carved in our flesh opens onto our heart.....
There are wizards so destitute that they use their cauldrons to boil the clouds and that's not the end of the matter....
There were delightful displays of childish temper about those succulent plants that can never be applied to corns, they're were fleur de lys preserved in brandy when you fell over.....
We touch those tender stars which filled our dreams with our fingers....
All of us laugh all of us sing but nobody feels his heart beat any longer....
Our prison is built of well loved books but we can no longer escape because of all the passionate odors that send us to sleep.....
True stars of our eyes how long do you take to revolve around our heads?
The window carved in our flesh opens onto our heart.....
July 20, 2021
Poetic, strange, rule breaking… this book is a work of art. I am very interested in automatic writing. I tried it many times. This book inspires me to keep on experimenting with it.
October 12, 2021
Sometimes the actual act of writing a book is more important than the story being told. This is true of Joyce’s 'Ulysses', widely considered one of, if not the most important, novels ever written. 'Ulysses' is not pleasant to read for the most part. It is confusing and plunges depths of language and meaning most readers won’t be bothered to discover. Yet all can admire the genius of the writing. The amount of work put into the prose is evident. The reader is aware of the revolutionary nature of the work of art.
We can apply this doctrine to 'The Magnetic Fields' on a smaller scale. It is not exactly pleasant to read despite its poetic flow. There is no plot to follow, no development, no meaning. What Breton and Soupault set out to do with this work was to write and to write quickly without the use of any literary device or method. The fact this book was written is more important than any of its content.
Automatic writing, as the surrealists termed it, involves a quick and unedited outpouring of consciousness onto paper. Where Virginia Woolf also championed a stream-of-consciousness style, she thought before she wrote. Similarly, Elizabeth Smart in her marvellous work 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept' aimed to write poetically about the emotion of love rather than write any story. However, Smart’s book does have a plot, a logical up and down, which is exactly why it is so enjoyable to read. It blends pure emotion with structured plot. 'The Magnetic Fields' is pure emotion, pure thought, and is therefore quite difficult and even exacerbating to read.
Unfortunately, I found myself slipping in focus as I read this book. I entered what you could call “meditative skimming”, a state in which a part of my brain was reading the page while the other was thinking about clothes, books and to-do lists and had to be brought back to the page much as one brings back their thoughts to their breath during meditation. However, as an avid fan and even obsessive of French Surrealism and Dada, I would not feel complete without this book on my shelf.
While other surrealists nailed automatic writing in a more reader-friendly fashion (Robert Desnos in 'Liberty or Love', Rene Crevel in 'My Body and I', Louis Aragon in 'Treatise on Style') 'The Magnetic Fields' should be respected as the start of a revolutionary movement, a poetic and fierce act by two young men wanting to overturn post-war drollery. It is fitting the book was dedicated to Jacques Vache, himself the embodiment of this overturning.
Charlotte Mandell does an excellent job with the translation, which I imagine must have been extremely challenging. While it would have been nice to know which passages were written by Breton and which by Soupault, I am certain the translation of such illogical and free-flowing prose must have been tiresome enough.
We can apply this doctrine to 'The Magnetic Fields' on a smaller scale. It is not exactly pleasant to read despite its poetic flow. There is no plot to follow, no development, no meaning. What Breton and Soupault set out to do with this work was to write and to write quickly without the use of any literary device or method. The fact this book was written is more important than any of its content.
Automatic writing, as the surrealists termed it, involves a quick and unedited outpouring of consciousness onto paper. Where Virginia Woolf also championed a stream-of-consciousness style, she thought before she wrote. Similarly, Elizabeth Smart in her marvellous work 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept' aimed to write poetically about the emotion of love rather than write any story. However, Smart’s book does have a plot, a logical up and down, which is exactly why it is so enjoyable to read. It blends pure emotion with structured plot. 'The Magnetic Fields' is pure emotion, pure thought, and is therefore quite difficult and even exacerbating to read.
Unfortunately, I found myself slipping in focus as I read this book. I entered what you could call “meditative skimming”, a state in which a part of my brain was reading the page while the other was thinking about clothes, books and to-do lists and had to be brought back to the page much as one brings back their thoughts to their breath during meditation. However, as an avid fan and even obsessive of French Surrealism and Dada, I would not feel complete without this book on my shelf.
While other surrealists nailed automatic writing in a more reader-friendly fashion (Robert Desnos in 'Liberty or Love', Rene Crevel in 'My Body and I', Louis Aragon in 'Treatise on Style') 'The Magnetic Fields' should be respected as the start of a revolutionary movement, a poetic and fierce act by two young men wanting to overturn post-war drollery. It is fitting the book was dedicated to Jacques Vache, himself the embodiment of this overturning.
Charlotte Mandell does an excellent job with the translation, which I imagine must have been extremely challenging. While it would have been nice to know which passages were written by Breton and which by Soupault, I am certain the translation of such illogical and free-flowing prose must have been tiresome enough.
August 27, 2023
Some of the most fascinating writing I have ever read!!!This work is essentially witnessing someone else’s dreams, almost like a looking through a kaleidoscope. The writing itself is so profoundly gorgeous but isn’t strictly classifiable as poetry. I started Rimbaud’s Illuminations at the same time as this and the inspiration drawn is very noticeable. Also draws a lot from Baudelaire. Tbh Magnetic Fields is under-recognized in its significance to contemporary lit through its experimentation and the use of automatic writing. First true example of surrealism through lit. Both very personal and very nonsensical.
August 3, 2021
less plotty than i expected compared to nadja. but i really like breton's style. probably a lot better if i reread this a couple times.
July 26, 2024
I always wondered about the differences between surrealism and magical realism. There aren't a lot of sample pieces of significant surrealist literature as compared to the increased blend of magical realism in post modern literature. However, few names come to the forefront when the surrealist movement in literature takes shape in a salon discussion. Breton was considered as the father of surrealist literature for a reason. When one hears the technicalities of 'automatism' or 'automatic writing' being incorporated in such surreal pieces of work, it is difficult to imagine how it would feel to dive into the same. 'Magnetic Fields' brings that to perspective!
A consistent theme in the excerpts and poetries in the book is the juxtaposition of man and nature either through insects covering a man's body or water being made from 'movements of peasants'. Another recurring theme is that of necessity and loss of courage, and various phantasmogorial representation of freedom. The book perpetuates space-time continuum through intermingling of the concious, subconscious and unconscious elements of human psyche. It projects absolute absurdity in reality, thereby giving birth to an absolute reality which was anyways what, apparently, Breton proposed surrealism is ought to be in his 'Manifesto of Surrealism'.
One can easily feel transported to their deepest subconscious corners of the mind which defies logic and reason as one slides across the pages of the book! And now I feel I have a better understanding of the major difference persisting between surrealism and magical realism. The former is absolute absurdity which define all rationality of human consciousness and masks that with the intervention of unconscious and subconscious corners of the mind. The latter is a form of incorporating rational absurdity in the known reality of human existence. However, this is my personal interpretation.
I would like to quote a specific paragraph of the book which, in my opinion, brings to light one of the core motivations for the birth of surrealist movement in literature and art.
"The tormented sea lit up these regions; an instant vegetation disappeared and agglomerations of vapors uncovered the stars. Celestial activity explored for the first time. The planets stealthily approached, and obscure silences peopled the stars. The hills surround themselves with the slightest languors. Only the memories of flights remain on the marshes. The necessity for mathematical absurdities has not been demonstrated. Why aren’t these carefully crushed insects dying while cursing the pains assembled? All beloved misfortunes push us towards these delicious corners. The tree of peoples is not rotten and the crop is unharvested. The commands of drunken leaders float in the weighty atmosphere. Nothing counts anymore. Courage is abolished. Concessions in perpetuity."
A consistent theme in the excerpts and poetries in the book is the juxtaposition of man and nature either through insects covering a man's body or water being made from 'movements of peasants'. Another recurring theme is that of necessity and loss of courage, and various phantasmogorial representation of freedom. The book perpetuates space-time continuum through intermingling of the concious, subconscious and unconscious elements of human psyche. It projects absolute absurdity in reality, thereby giving birth to an absolute reality which was anyways what, apparently, Breton proposed surrealism is ought to be in his 'Manifesto of Surrealism'.
One can easily feel transported to their deepest subconscious corners of the mind which defies logic and reason as one slides across the pages of the book! And now I feel I have a better understanding of the major difference persisting between surrealism and magical realism. The former is absolute absurdity which define all rationality of human consciousness and masks that with the intervention of unconscious and subconscious corners of the mind. The latter is a form of incorporating rational absurdity in the known reality of human existence. However, this is my personal interpretation.
I would like to quote a specific paragraph of the book which, in my opinion, brings to light one of the core motivations for the birth of surrealist movement in literature and art.
"The tormented sea lit up these regions; an instant vegetation disappeared and agglomerations of vapors uncovered the stars. Celestial activity explored for the first time. The planets stealthily approached, and obscure silences peopled the stars. The hills surround themselves with the slightest languors. Only the memories of flights remain on the marshes. The necessity for mathematical absurdities has not been demonstrated. Why aren’t these carefully crushed insects dying while cursing the pains assembled? All beloved misfortunes push us towards these delicious corners. The tree of peoples is not rotten and the crop is unharvested. The commands of drunken leaders float in the weighty atmosphere. Nothing counts anymore. Courage is abolished. Concessions in perpetuity."
January 20, 2021
I’ve been fascinated with Breton and the Surrealist movement for a couple of years now, and I looked forward to reading this, the first work of Surrealist literature. But it’s long been out of print, meaning a copy cost a few hundred bucks until this new translation. Having read it, though, it’s clear that surrealist literature is a lot less interesting than surrealist film, painting or photography. Automatic writing, the process at the core of surrealist literature, involves just spewing out whatever comes to mind, sans editing. The idea is that you’re tapping into the subconscious; Freud was all the rage back then. So it’s pretty much word salad, written by 1920s hipsters. It’s like Naked Lunch, without all the sadomasochism.
October 17, 2022
The Magnetic Fields is famous as the first sustained attempt at Surrealist automatic writing—a technique Breton derived from Freudian free association. The idea was to shut off the mind's internal critic and open a channel to the unconscious. The surrealist would function like an occult medium channeling messages from the deep caverns of the self:
Sounds interesting! Breton expressed great hopes for it. He called the Magnetic Fields:
Interest is heightened by the brazen amorality of Breton's surrealism. A key requirement of surrealism was rejection of conscience, morality, the superego, etc. This is evident in Breton's definition of surrealism in the First Manifesto of Surrealism:
Amorality also shows up in Breton's reverence for Les Chants de Maldoror, with its proto-serial-killer celebration of child rape, child murder, torture for pleasure, and so forth.
Likewise, we have Breton's famous (and surprisingly post-modern) characterization of surrealism from 1930:
All in all, surrealist automatic writing sounds like a journey to the center of the id. Yet the Magnetic Fields is incredibly boring! Breton's effete upper-class French lifestyle is on display throughout: the beach, cafes, dance parties, mistresses, "the best hotels," books, museums. Nothing interesting happens, no taboos are violated—aside from some mildly amusing verbal juxtapositions. A sample:
It's literally all like that. "A perfect odour bathed the shadow and a thousand little scents ran up and down." Behold the seething cauldron of the unleashed subconscious mind, lol.
You wonder: What went wrong?
Theory 1: Breton's amoralism was phony, and he was incapable (like every other sane person) of shutting off his internal critic. The problem was compounded by Breton and Soupault writing together. Both were subconsciously worried about the other's judgment and self-censored as a result.
Theory 2: For reasons like those given in Theory 1, free association and automatic writing are a bad way to access the unconscious. Commercial activity is better. Consider the development of the pulps, or slasher films, or media like the Springer Show, or Pornhub. If the unconscious has a need, some niche market will spring up around it. This is why something like "I Spit on Your Grave" or "The Last House on the Left" is far more emblematic of surrealism, as Breton defines it, than the Magnetic Fields.
Theory 3: Breton's project was épater la bourgeoisie. The trouble is that, to scandalize the bourgeoisie, you must be bourgeoisie. The middle and upper classes aren't scandalized by the vulgar antics of lower class proles, like Professional Wrestling or the Springer Show. You need a certain level of social status for the bourgeoisie to care what you think. Breton was only willing to go amoral within the constraint of preserving his own social capital. This was good business as well. Surrealism in Breton's time was a cottage industry.
"...let us not lose sight of the fact that the idea of surrealism aims quite simply at the total recovery of our psychic force by a means which is nothing other than the dizzying descent into ourselves, the systematic illumination of hidden places and the progressive darkening of other places, the perpetual excursion into the midst of forbidden territory..."
Sounds interesting! Breton expressed great hopes for it. He called the Magnetic Fields:
"...indisputably the first surrealist (and in no sense dada) work, since it is the fruit of the first systematic use of automatic writing... Our situation was that of anyone who has just excavated a vein of precious metal."
Interest is heightened by the brazen amorality of Breton's surrealism. A key requirement of surrealism was rejection of conscience, morality, the superego, etc. This is evident in Breton's definition of surrealism in the First Manifesto of Surrealism:
SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express—verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner—the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
Amorality also shows up in Breton's reverence for Les Chants de Maldoror, with its proto-serial-killer celebration of child rape, child murder, torture for pleasure, and so forth.
Likewise, we have Breton's famous (and surprisingly post-modern) characterization of surrealism from 1930:
The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd. Anyone who, at least once in his life, has not dreamed of thus putting an end to the petty system of debasement and cretinization in effect has a well-defined place in that crowd, with his belly at barrel level.
All in all, surrealist automatic writing sounds like a journey to the center of the id. Yet the Magnetic Fields is incredibly boring! Breton's effete upper-class French lifestyle is on display throughout: the beach, cafes, dance parties, mistresses, "the best hotels," books, museums. Nothing interesting happens, no taboos are violated—aside from some mildly amusing verbal juxtapositions. A sample:
A perfect odour bathed the shadow and a thousand little scents ran up and down. They were thick circles, ravaged rags. Millimetres away, the endless adventures of microbes were perceptible. Style of cleansed cries and tamed visions. The brief puffs of smoke fell furiously and in disorder. Only the wind could absorb this living peat, these paralysed contrivances. The wild races, the bridge of delays, the instantaneous brutalizations were found to be joined together again and mixed with the blue sands of modernized pleasures, with sensational sacrifices, with the fleet flock of elect narcotics. There were the serious songs of sickly street alters, the prayers of merchants, the afflictions of swine, the eternal agonies of librarians.
It's literally all like that. "A perfect odour bathed the shadow and a thousand little scents ran up and down." Behold the seething cauldron of the unleashed subconscious mind, lol.
You wonder: What went wrong?
Theory 1: Breton's amoralism was phony, and he was incapable (like every other sane person) of shutting off his internal critic. The problem was compounded by Breton and Soupault writing together. Both were subconsciously worried about the other's judgment and self-censored as a result.
Theory 2: For reasons like those given in Theory 1, free association and automatic writing are a bad way to access the unconscious. Commercial activity is better. Consider the development of the pulps, or slasher films, or media like the Springer Show, or Pornhub. If the unconscious has a need, some niche market will spring up around it. This is why something like "I Spit on Your Grave" or "The Last House on the Left" is far more emblematic of surrealism, as Breton defines it, than the Magnetic Fields.
Theory 3: Breton's project was épater la bourgeoisie. The trouble is that, to scandalize the bourgeoisie, you must be bourgeoisie. The middle and upper classes aren't scandalized by the vulgar antics of lower class proles, like Professional Wrestling or the Springer Show. You need a certain level of social status for the bourgeoisie to care what you think. Breton was only willing to go amoral within the constraint of preserving his own social capital. This was good business as well. Surrealism in Breton's time was a cottage industry.
March 27, 2022
Honoured to finally read the (self-proclaimed) "first work of literary Surrealism". I've loved (written) Surrealism for so long now and its great to see its origin. Best read by opening to a random page and reading a sentence, or two, aloud.
May 4, 2021
A short and quintessential text of surrealist poetry and prose. If you're reading this review please take it as a sign to read this. It'll take naught but an afternoon and your subconscious will be all the better off because of it.
October 18, 2022
There’s a way to read this. Quickly and while walking. Even though Desnos does psychology better, all of the Soupalt is very funny and good.
September 21, 2022
They said to me What do you have in place of a heart
December 17, 2020
It's surprising how long it took until this book took was translated. Reading it is a bit like listening to white noise. It's a very interesting experience. I liked it.
August 14, 2022
Yummy French nonsense !!!
March 24, 2024
The surrealist didn’t not invent automatic writing. They merely transform it into a new and exciting way of creating great art. They first met it in occult settings: at gathering dedicated to channeling spirits, where a spirit would allegedly enter a person who would then write down or speak without stop the messages from beyond.
To the Surrealists this technic was like a gold mine for entering a trance like states and invoking ideas, thoughts, and feeling from within one’s own subconscious. The first surrealist book ever written was composed using automatic writing.
André Breton and Philippe Soupault, the two of the three founders of the Surrealist movement wrote The Magnetic Fields during 9 hectic days, working 12 or more hours from dawn till after dusk. The result is astonishing.
The first line of the book was composed by Soupault, in a mental state he described as between sleep between wakefulness, a kind of voluntary hypnosis. The line was: The drops of waters cage us, again we are nothing but eternal animals”. Breton answered his friend with: “The story comes back to the stipend money guide, and the brilliant actors are preparing to enter the stage”.
The Magnetic Fields was published in 1920, three years before the founding of the Surrealist movement. When it was time for the young surrealists to leave the Dada and establish a new course for themselves, the young surrealist saw Automatic Writing as the per excellence surrealist technic. Breton gave clear instructions on how to use it.
In the Second Surrealist Manifesto he advises that:
"After you have settled yourself in a place as favorable as possible to the concentration of your mind upon itself, have writing materials brought to you. Put yourself in as passive, or receptive a state of mind as you can. Forget about your genius, your talents, and the talents of everyone else. Keep reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything. Write quickly, without any preconceived subject, fast enough so that you will not remember what you're writing and be tempted to reread what you have written. The first sentence will come spontaneously, so compelling is the truth that with every passing second there is a sentence unknown to our consciousness which is only crying to be heard Go on as long as you like. Put your trust in the inexhaustible nature of the murmur."
When visual artists joined the movement, they invent automatic painting and automatic collaging. A wonderous example of an automatic painting is André Masson’s Automatic Drawing from 1924.
After a few years using the not so new technic became less and less exciting and Breton and others moved to other ways of connecting to the subconscious. But other, younger artists and writers continued to use Automatic Writing in new ways. The famous example is 'On the Road' by the bitnik writer Jack kerouac, who first outlined the book in his mind and only when he felt ready - wrote it all down in one sitting. Writing on a long scroll so as not to distract himself with flipping pages.
But probably the most famous example of automatic writing is the morning pages. An exercise in enhancing creativity invented by Julia Cameron and popularized in her best selling book, The Artist’s Way.
https://malulchen.substack.com/
To the Surrealists this technic was like a gold mine for entering a trance like states and invoking ideas, thoughts, and feeling from within one’s own subconscious. The first surrealist book ever written was composed using automatic writing.
André Breton and Philippe Soupault, the two of the three founders of the Surrealist movement wrote The Magnetic Fields during 9 hectic days, working 12 or more hours from dawn till after dusk. The result is astonishing.
The first line of the book was composed by Soupault, in a mental state he described as between sleep between wakefulness, a kind of voluntary hypnosis. The line was: The drops of waters cage us, again we are nothing but eternal animals”. Breton answered his friend with: “The story comes back to the stipend money guide, and the brilliant actors are preparing to enter the stage”.
The Magnetic Fields was published in 1920, three years before the founding of the Surrealist movement. When it was time for the young surrealists to leave the Dada and establish a new course for themselves, the young surrealist saw Automatic Writing as the per excellence surrealist technic. Breton gave clear instructions on how to use it.
In the Second Surrealist Manifesto he advises that:
"After you have settled yourself in a place as favorable as possible to the concentration of your mind upon itself, have writing materials brought to you. Put yourself in as passive, or receptive a state of mind as you can. Forget about your genius, your talents, and the talents of everyone else. Keep reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything. Write quickly, without any preconceived subject, fast enough so that you will not remember what you're writing and be tempted to reread what you have written. The first sentence will come spontaneously, so compelling is the truth that with every passing second there is a sentence unknown to our consciousness which is only crying to be heard Go on as long as you like. Put your trust in the inexhaustible nature of the murmur."
When visual artists joined the movement, they invent automatic painting and automatic collaging. A wonderous example of an automatic painting is André Masson’s Automatic Drawing from 1924.
After a few years using the not so new technic became less and less exciting and Breton and others moved to other ways of connecting to the subconscious. But other, younger artists and writers continued to use Automatic Writing in new ways. The famous example is 'On the Road' by the bitnik writer Jack kerouac, who first outlined the book in his mind and only when he felt ready - wrote it all down in one sitting. Writing on a long scroll so as not to distract himself with flipping pages.
But probably the most famous example of automatic writing is the morning pages. An exercise in enhancing creativity invented by Julia Cameron and popularized in her best selling book, The Artist’s Way.
https://malulchen.substack.com/
April 6, 2024
This book defies description in many ways, yet it has influenced so many creative people since its release over 100 years ago. Before the Surrealist manifesto there was The Magnetic Fields. The writing is hypnotic, tantalising and contains an internal logic of its own. In many ways I preferred Philippe Soupault's poetry to Breton's fractured texts. Maybe that's because poetry is more acceptable as a more imaginative, suggestive, or emotive form of writing than prose. Musicians and writers have been influenced by this work which was born soon after Dada. In that sense The Magnetic Fields is conservative in comparison to some Dada works but its power lies in the collaboration between Breton and Soupault, where two voices exploring a similar creative approach are always more convincing than one. Its influence on writers such as William Burroughs is obvious.
Having met several artists with links back to Breton I am amazed that none recommended this work as an introduction to what became Surrealism, Poesie Sonore, or Concrete Poetry. This work and the Surrealist Manifesto should be required reading for contextual; studies in Art History,. although I doubt that many of those entrusted with such privileged delivery are bothered by this work when it does not readily fit in the current fixation for identity politics.
It is a book to be devoured, savoured, re read, meditated on, reviled, misunderstood, caressed as Cocteau might beneath his mattress, yet it is not as overt as it could have been. It is crafted in a code that has probably challenged PhD candidates across recent times to reinterpret or provide a tightrope trick of serpent like proportions casting jellyfish upon the beach of ignorant bliss.
Having met several artists with links back to Breton I am amazed that none recommended this work as an introduction to what became Surrealism, Poesie Sonore, or Concrete Poetry. This work and the Surrealist Manifesto should be required reading for contextual; studies in Art History,. although I doubt that many of those entrusted with such privileged delivery are bothered by this work when it does not readily fit in the current fixation for identity politics.
It is a book to be devoured, savoured, re read, meditated on, reviled, misunderstood, caressed as Cocteau might beneath his mattress, yet it is not as overt as it could have been. It is crafted in a code that has probably challenged PhD candidates across recent times to reinterpret or provide a tightrope trick of serpent like proportions casting jellyfish upon the beach of ignorant bliss.
December 22, 2022
The Magnetic Fields is a foundational text in Surrealism. Breton and Soupault wrote it in a frenzy, having agreed just to write and not revise. The result is a kaleidoscope of imagery and language, sometimes virtually impenetrable, others lucid and compelling. Consider: "Here is pointed out the moving passage of cruisers at one in the morning. It's no longer the running of the regattas stripe of this Thursday. I am becoming regular as a watch crystal. On land it's getting late and they fear an eternal coming together of walls. The curtains are calendars." (p. 27).
There is no plot as such, but rather a series of vignettes presented as separate chapters. Two long sections at the end, for instance, present the remarks of the Hermit Crab, in quasi-verse (pp. 71-95). For instance:
Ability to give oneself
Free advice
Mend your ways on earth
Happy to oblige
Here are the pretty pickaxes of the inoffensive flashback
Gold deserved
Mushroom grown overnight tomorrow it will no longer be fresh
Seasons driving forces of our desires
Opening doors in front of the circus rider (p. 77, italics in original)
I will not venture any interpretation of The Magnetic Fields and in fact it not only resists interpretation (I think) but also has no reason to be interpreted. You just read and allow yourself to be caught up in the surrealistic flow, the word play, the images, the disjunctures.
There is no plot as such, but rather a series of vignettes presented as separate chapters. Two long sections at the end, for instance, present the remarks of the Hermit Crab, in quasi-verse (pp. 71-95). For instance:
Ability to give oneself
Free advice
Mend your ways on earth
Happy to oblige
Here are the pretty pickaxes of the inoffensive flashback
Gold deserved
Mushroom grown overnight tomorrow it will no longer be fresh
Seasons driving forces of our desires
Opening doors in front of the circus rider (p. 77, italics in original)
I will not venture any interpretation of The Magnetic Fields and in fact it not only resists interpretation (I think) but also has no reason to be interpreted. You just read and allow yourself to be caught up in the surrealistic flow, the word play, the images, the disjunctures.
April 4, 2023
Bleak. Stunning. Visceral. Raw. Inspiring. Haunting. Mesmerizing.
The Magnetic Fields is a collection of prose and poetry written through the process of automatic writing, a style of flow writing that involves simply allowing the words to stream onto the page, no editing required. Andre Breton and Philippe Soupalt, two founding members of the school of Surrealism, were the first to attempt this technique, and this book is the result of their experiment. They wrote the entire manuscript in one week, writing daily, as fast as possible, refusing to edit as they go. This alone makes the experimental text special, but I found the content to be exceptional even without the historical significance. The imagery evoked from the writers' words is unlike anything I've experienced before, and I was taken on a wild ride from the first page to the last.
I also found the pieces exceptionally inspiring, and was frequently scribbling notes in the margins - responses to the lines, associated visions that popped into my head, and the beginnings of my own poems. I daresay the writers would approve of my reaction. Cheers to writing with a reckless spirit, free from any and all inhibitions!
The Magnetic Fields is a collection of prose and poetry written through the process of automatic writing, a style of flow writing that involves simply allowing the words to stream onto the page, no editing required. Andre Breton and Philippe Soupalt, two founding members of the school of Surrealism, were the first to attempt this technique, and this book is the result of their experiment. They wrote the entire manuscript in one week, writing daily, as fast as possible, refusing to edit as they go. This alone makes the experimental text special, but I found the content to be exceptional even without the historical significance. The imagery evoked from the writers' words is unlike anything I've experienced before, and I was taken on a wild ride from the first page to the last.
I also found the pieces exceptionally inspiring, and was frequently scribbling notes in the margins - responses to the lines, associated visions that popped into my head, and the beginnings of my own poems. I daresay the writers would approve of my reaction. Cheers to writing with a reckless spirit, free from any and all inhibitions!
May 23, 2023
“The window carved in our flesh opens onto our heart. There can be seen an enormous lake on which at noon russet dragon-flies as fragrant as peony-finches come to settle.”
As an admirer of Surrealism, I must say reading one of the first surrealist works of literature was rather exciting. This book was undoubtedly beautifully written, which each sentence being carefully crafted by Breton to be as whimsical and magical as possible. Despite this, I chose to give it three stars as this is a book with no plot, characters, climax or any elements of a story whatsoever. It is a perfect example of “pure psychic automatism”, with miscellaneous sentences and pieces of dialogue with no correlation stringed together to form this Franken-book. I enjoyed it at times, especially the first half of the book.
Looking forward to reading more of Breton’s works in the future.
As an admirer of Surrealism, I must say reading one of the first surrealist works of literature was rather exciting. This book was undoubtedly beautifully written, which each sentence being carefully crafted by Breton to be as whimsical and magical as possible. Despite this, I chose to give it three stars as this is a book with no plot, characters, climax or any elements of a story whatsoever. It is a perfect example of “pure psychic automatism”, with miscellaneous sentences and pieces of dialogue with no correlation stringed together to form this Franken-book. I enjoyed it at times, especially the first half of the book.
Looking forward to reading more of Breton’s works in the future.
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