World War I in Surrealism
The massive destruction caused by WWI had a huge impact on the literary scene. After the end of the war, many writers felt that they had to reckon with the meaning of so much blood 'n' guts.
Surrealism, as a literary movement, partly emerged in response to the war. The war itself, after all, was a surreal experience: destruction on that scale had not been experienced in the history of Europe. The emphasis on the surreal that we'll find in Surrealist literature reflects the craziness of the war.
The Surrealists also felt that the social, cultural, political, and economic frameworks that had led to the war had to be challenged. And they began to challenge these forms by creating a new type of literature… one that made as little sense as war itself.
Chew On This
The speaker of Benjamin Péret's "Little Song for the Maimed" tells us all about how terrible World War I was.
So just how devastating was World War I, exactly? Delve into some facts about the War here.