Breton, André (äNdrā` brətôN`), 1896–1966, French writer, founder and theorist of the surrealist movement. He studied neuropsychology and was one of the first in France to publicize the work of Freud. At first a Dadaist, he collaborated with Philippe Soupault in automatic writing in Les Champs magnétiques (1921). He then turned to surrealism surrealism (sərē`əlĭzəm)
..... Click the link for more information. , writing three manifestos (1924, 1930, 1934) and opening a studio for "surrealist research." Breton helped to found several reviews: Littérature (1919), Minotaure (1933), and VVV (1944). His other works include Nadja (1928, tr. 1960), a semiautobiographical novel; What is Surrealism? (1934, tr. 1936); Ode à Charles Fourier (1946); and L' Art Magique (1957).

Bibliography

See biography by M. Polizzotti (1995); study by A. E. Balakian (1971); A. E. Balakian and R. E. Kuenzli, ed., André Breton Today (1989).

Breton, André

(born Feb. 18, 1896, Tinchebray, France—died Sept. 28, 1966, Paris) French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919 he helped found the Dada magazine Littérature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing technique. In 1924 his Manifeste du surréalisme provided a definition of Surrealism, of which he was the chief promoter. In the 1930s he joined and then broke with the Communist Party; in 1938 he founded the Fédération de l'Art Revolutionnaire Indépendant with Leon Trotsky in Mexico. He spent World War II in the U.S. and returned to France in 1946. His Poèmes appeared in 1948. He also wrote essays, works of criticism, and novels, including Nadja (1928).