{"product_id":"the-edge-of-surrealism-9780822330561","title":"The Edge of Surrealism","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePresents an introduction to the writing of French social theorist Roger Caillois (1913-1978). Presenting several documents and drawing on interviews and unpublished correspondence, this book reveals Caillois' consistent effort to reconcile intellectual rigor and imaginative adventure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Roger Caillois has remained relatively unknown in the English-speaking world. This superb selection of his essays, expertly translated, shows the full range of his thought and should place him next to Bataille and the Surrealists as a major intellectual figure in interwar and postwar France. Claudine Frank's general introduction and detailed commentaries on individual essays provide the necessary contexts for understanding this complex, often paradoxical thinker. A first-rate work that is sure to be of interest to all students of 20th-century French thought.”—\u003cb\u003eSusan Rubin Suleiman\u003c\/b\u003e, author of\u003ci\u003e Risking Who One Is: Encounters with Contemporary Art and Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e”\u003ci\u003eThe Edge of Surrealism \u003c\/i\u003eis the Caillois in one volume that is so badly needed considering the very dispersed status of Caillois’s work and that no such volume exists in any language, not even in France. This selection is excellent, done by someone who not only knows thoroughly the production of the author but knows also what’s most relevant for our contemporary interests.”—\u003cb\u003eDenis Hollier\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eAbsent without Leave: French Literature under the Threat of War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction 1\u003cbr\u003e I. Theory and the Thirties, 1934—1939 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eSurrealism and Its Environs\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 1. Testimony (Paul Eluard) 59\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Praying Mantis: From Biology to Psychoanalysis 66\u003cbr\u003e 3. Letter to Andre Breton; Literature in Crisis 82\u003cbr\u003e 4. Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia 89\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eBiology and Myth\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 5. Review of \u003ci\u003eL'Homme, cet inconnu,\u003c\/i\u003e by Dr. Alexis Carrel 107\u003cbr\u003e 6. The Function of Myth 110\u003cbr\u003e 7. The Noon Complex 124\u003cbr\u003e 8. For a Militant Orthodoxy: The Immediate Tasks of Modern Thought 130\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eLucifer at the College of Sociology\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 9. Interview with Gilles Lapouge, June 1970 141\u003cbr\u003e 10. First Lecture: Sacred Sociology and the Relationships among “Society,” “Organism,” and “Being” 147\u003cbr\u003e 11. Dionysian Virtues 155\u003cbr\u003e 12. Aggressiveness as a Value 160\u003cbr\u003e 13. The Birth of Lucifer 166\u003cbr\u003e 14. Paris, a Modern Myth 173\u003cbr\u003e 15. Sociology of the Intellectual 190\u003cbr\u003e II. Writing from Patagonia, 1940–1945 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eAfter the College\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 16. Preamble to the Spirit of Sects 205\u003cbr\u003e 17. Discussions of Sociological Topics: On “Defense of the Republic” 213\u003cbr\u003e 18. The Nature and Structure of Totalitarian Regimes 217\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTreasure and Culture\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 19. Duties and Privileges of French Writers Abroad 235\u003cbr\u003e 20. Patagonia 240\u003cbr\u003e 21. The Myth of Secret Treasures in Childhood 252\u003cbr\u003e 22. The Situation of Poetry 262\u003cbr\u003e 23. Pythian Heritage (On the Nature of Poetic Inspiration) 268\u003cbr\u003e III. Postwar Stances, 1946–1978 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Moralists\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 24. Loyola to the Rescue of Marx 279\u003cbr\u003e 25. Paroxysms of Society 284\u003cbr\u003e 26. Metamorphoses of Hell 298\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eSigns and Images\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 27. The Image 315\u003cbr\u003e 28. Fruitful Ambiguity 320\u003cbr\u003e 29. Surrealism as a World of Signs 326\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eDiagonal Science\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 30 The Great Bridgemaker 337\u003cbr\u003e 31. A New Plea for Diagonal Science 343\u003cbr\u003e 32. The Natural Fantastic 348\u003cbr\u003e Roger Caillois Timeline 359\u003cbr\u003e Notes 363\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography 401\u003cbr\u003e Index 415","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49406032019799,"sku":"9780822330561","price":112.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780822330561.jpg?v=1730494309","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-edge-of-surrealism-9780822330561","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}