Surrealism in Canada

Very happy to have my long essay, "Andre Breton in Canada," included in the current issue of Open Letter, guest-edited by Greg Betts and Beatriz Hausner.

It was a fun essay to write, and I spent a good part of last summer reading through Breton's biographies and other critical material to make what I think were some undiscovered observations. The paper also includes a number of great photos of the Gaspe area and Breton's excursions there, as well as a discussion of Tarot cards and Matta's art.

It's quite an exciting issue and has great contributions by: Ray Ellenwood on Mimi Parent, Jean Benoit, and Claude Gauvreau; Steve Venright on the Recordists; Karl Jirgens on Surrealist performance; Kevin Killian on Peter Dube; and new creative work by Ludwig Zeller, Lillian Necakov, Susana Wald, and others.

Open Letter homepage is here; and rob mclennan's commentary on the issue here.