Walking for Revolution: From Surrealism to the Situationist International Arielle Marshall (University of Melbourne & Université Sorbonne Nouvelle) [Accepted for publication: 09/01/2023]
Abstract his article examines the Parisian Surrealist and Situationist engagement with urban walking as a critical artistic practice. Exploring how the theme of urban wandering, essential to Parisian Surrealism in its early years, is re-elaborated in the Situationist concept of the dérive [drift], the article sheds new light on the relationship between these rival movements. Firstly, it offers a narrative account of Surrealist wandering that closely considers two events, the Dadaist visit to Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in 1921 and the aimless wandering (déambulation) experiment in Blois in 1924, alongside two landmark Surrealist texts, Louis Aragon’s Le Paysan de Paris (1926) and André Breton’s Nadja (1928). Secondly, it situates the difficult relationship of Guy Debord to Surrealism in the history of artistic avant-gardes. Thirdly, it highlights the importance of Surrealism to the elaboration of the dérive, by analysing the implicit and explicit references to Surrealism through Debord’s writings of the 1950s. Finally, it turns to the literary precursors of the dérive, distinct from but related to the Baudelairean flâneur, to explore the poetic roots of Surrealism and the Situationist International in modern French literature. This article illuminates the importance of Surrealist concepts to the Situationist city, to deepen our understanding of the Parisian avant-garde and their legacies.
T
La formule pour renverser le monde, nous ne l’avons pas cherchée dans les livres, mais en errant. Guy Debord, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
urrealism had a fundamental role in the elaboration of Situationist theories and practices, particularly in the works of Guy Debord. References to Surrealism appear constantly in Debord’s writings. Yet, the relationship between these two avant-garde movements is complicated, marked by strong affinities and divergences. The Situationist relationship to Surrealism is defined at once by opposition—rejecting the movement’s conceptual pillars of chance, automatism, and the unconscious—and by the continuation of Surrealist themes, ideas, and
S
New Readings 19 (2023): 19–42. e-ISSN: 2634-6850 – Article doi:10.18573/newreadings.138 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The copyright of this article is owned by the author.