Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone

History

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone. / Sayer, Derek.
In: Common Knowledge, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2012, p. 193-207.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Sayer, D 2012, 'Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone', Common Knowledge, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1215/0961754X-1544887

APA

Sayer, D. (2012). Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone. Common Knowledge, 18(2), 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1215/0961754X-1544887

Vancouver

Sayer D. Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone. Common Knowledge. 2012;18(2):193-207. doi: 10.1215/0961754X-1544887

Author

Sayer, Derek. / Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone. In: Common Knowledge. 2012 ; Vol. 18, No. 2. pp. 193-207.

Bibtex

@article{ed903a6e71974efda914be6c944336d1,

title = "Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone",

abstract = "An exercise in humour noir, this essay explores relations between the Paris and Prague surrealist groups from Andr{\'e} Breton and Paul {\'E}luard's visit to “the magic capital of old Europe” in 1935 to the aborted “Prague Spring” of 1968. It focuses on the famous “starry castle” of Breton's Mad Love — which Czechs know better as Letohr{\'a}dek Hv{\v e}zda at B{\'i}l{\'a} hora, the White Mountain — as a signifier whose wanderings, over the period, encapsulate the mutual myths and misunderstandings that were constitutive of this most poignant of surrealist love affairs. The essay ends by suggesting that what makes the Czech capital a fitting object of the surrealist imagination (and a rich source of surreal art and literature in its own right) is less the “historic charms” that so seduced Breton in 1935 than the “geographical, historical, and economic considerations” of the city's modernity that he blithely put to one side.",

keywords = "surrealism, Prague, Paris",

author = "Derek Sayer",

year = "2012",

doi = "10.1215/0961754X-1544887",

language = "English",

volume = "18",

pages = "193--207",

journal = "Common Knowledge",

issn = "1538-4578",

publisher = "Duke University Press",

number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Crossed Wires: On the Prague-Paris Surrealist Telephone

AU - Sayer, Derek

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - An exercise in humour noir, this essay explores relations between the Paris and Prague surrealist groups from André Breton and Paul Éluard's visit to “the magic capital of old Europe” in 1935 to the aborted “Prague Spring” of 1968. It focuses on the famous “starry castle” of Breton's Mad Love — which Czechs know better as Letohrádek Hvězda at Bílá hora, the White Mountain — as a signifier whose wanderings, over the period, encapsulate the mutual myths and misunderstandings that were constitutive of this most poignant of surrealist love affairs. The essay ends by suggesting that what makes the Czech capital a fitting object of the surrealist imagination (and a rich source of surreal art and literature in its own right) is less the “historic charms” that so seduced Breton in 1935 than the “geographical, historical, and economic considerations” of the city's modernity that he blithely put to one side.

AB - An exercise in humour noir, this essay explores relations between the Paris and Prague surrealist groups from André Breton and Paul Éluard's visit to “the magic capital of old Europe” in 1935 to the aborted “Prague Spring” of 1968. It focuses on the famous “starry castle” of Breton's Mad Love — which Czechs know better as Letohrádek Hvězda at Bílá hora, the White Mountain — as a signifier whose wanderings, over the period, encapsulate the mutual myths and misunderstandings that were constitutive of this most poignant of surrealist love affairs. The essay ends by suggesting that what makes the Czech capital a fitting object of the surrealist imagination (and a rich source of surreal art and literature in its own right) is less the “historic charms” that so seduced Breton in 1935 than the “geographical, historical, and economic considerations” of the city's modernity that he blithely put to one side.

KW - surrealism

KW - Prague

KW - Paris

U2 - 10.1215/0961754X-1544887

DO - 10.1215/0961754X-1544887

M3 - Journal article

VL - 18

SP - 193

EP - 207

JO - Common Knowledge

JF - Common Knowledge

SN - 1538-4578

IS - 2

ER -

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