Investigating Sex Surrealist Discussions

In January 1928, the surrealists initiated their remarkable "researches into sexuality" with a series of round-table conversations involving key figures such as Andr#xC3;#xA9; Breton, Yves Tanguy, Louis Aragon, Man Ray, Max Ernst and Antonin Artaud. The transcripts, in all their bizarre and fascinating detail, are presented here. While there is plenty of humor#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;not all of it intentional#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;the speakers were trying scrupulously to record every aspect of sexual love, cataloguing preferences and positions, quality and quantity. This book is a unique historical record of sexual practice and ethics; a fundamental text for understanding the surrealist movement and, for all its idiosyncrasies, a document that still retains an extraordinary vitality today.

José Pierre was a playwright, novelist and art historian. He belonged to the postwar Paris surrealist group that formed around André Breton. He was a member of Actual, an archive for the dissemination of the secret history of surrealism.