Anthology of Black Humor

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the first publication in English of the resplendent anthology that contains Breton's definitive statement on l'humour noir, one of the seminal concepts of Surrealism, and his provocative assessments of the writers he most admired. The entries range from the acerbic aphorisms of Swift, Lichtenberg, and Duchamp to the theatrical slapstick of Grabbe, from the wry missives of Rimbaud and Jacques Vache to the manic paranoia of Dali, from the ferocious iconoclasm of Alfred Jarry and Arthur Craven to the offhand hilarity of Apollinaire. For each of the forty-five authors included here, Breton has provided an enlightening biographical and critical preface, situating both the writer and the work in the context of black humor.