Anthology of Black Humor

by André Breton (Compiler), Mark Polizzotti (Translation)

This is the first publication in English of the anthology that contains Breton's definitive statement on l'humour noir, one of the seminal concepts of Surrealism, and his provocative assessments of the writers he most admired. While some of the authors featured in The Anthology of Black Humor are already well known to American readers--Swift, Kafka, Rimbaud, Poe, Lewis Carroll, and Baudelaire among them (and even then, Breton's selections are often surprising)--many others are sure to come as a revelation.

The entries range from the acerbic aphorisms of Swift, Lichtenberg, and Duchamp to the theatrical slapstick of Christian Dietrich Grabbe, from the wry missives of Rimbaud and Jacques Vache to the manic paranoia of Dali, from the ferocious iconoclasm of Alfred Jarry and Arthur Craven to the offhand hilarity of Apollinaire at his most spontaneous. For each of the forty-five authors included, Breton has provided an enlightening biographical and critical preface, situating both the writer and the work in the context of black humor--a partly macabre, partly ironic, and often absurd turn of spirit that Breton defined as "a superior revolt of the mind."

"Anthologies can aim to be groundbreaking or thought-provoking; few can be said to have introduced a new phrase--or a new concept--into the language. No one had ever used the term "black humour" before this one came along, unless, perhaps, it was from a racial angle."--The Guardian

Andre Breton (1896-1966), the founder and principal theorist of the Surrealist movement, is one of the major literary figures of the past century. His best-known works in English translation include Nadja, Mad Love, The Manifestoes of Surrealism, The Magnetic Fields (with Philippe Soupault), and Earthlight. Mark Polizzotti is the author of Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, France, Poetry, Anthologies, French Literature

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

After World War I, French poet and literary theorist André Breton began to link at first with Dadaism but broke with that movement to write the first manifesto of surrealism in 1924.

People best know this theorist as the principal founder. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme), in which he defined this "pure psychic automatism."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3...

Reviews

[João Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma fraca antologia. Notam-se as amizades e preferências pessoais de Breton, o que em certa medida é compreensível, mas fica-se com a ideia de que Breton não sabia ao certo o que é isso do «humor negro». Não se compreende, por exemplo, como pôde, num livro editado e reeditado nestas datas, excluir Céline e, no entanto, acrescentar autores e excertos que, enfim... E talvez devesse ter perdido menos espaço com bazófias e alarvidades à la Freud e dedicado esse espaço a excertos mais explícitos e menos truncados. Não leva duas estrelas por respeito a alguns bons escritores incluídos na antologia.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wildly uninteresting and borderline bad, but not for a lack of trying. I've always found Breton, after his initial refreshing gasps as kind of a mediocre dude. His flailing attempt at compiling the anthology in question is appreciated but it falls flat because it is patchwork and of dubious worth as far as representing its subject. Some inclusions are nice (Poe, de Quincey, Lautreamont) and you'll probably pick up a few new names to chase (Corbiere, for me, when I first read this years ago), but overall the slice-and-dice style of the inclusions and Breton's beautifully written but insipid introductions make the whole thing seem kind of flaccid.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andre Breton the head honcho of the Surrealists on being funny. Now that's funny! This is a great anthology of humor via the eyes of the great lunatic eccentric Breton. Everyone from Swift to fellow Surrealists are here and it's like one large crazy party.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of vintage black humor, perhaps typified in its editorial bent by the inclusion of the Marquis de Sade. L'humoir noir was one of the foundational legs d'giraffe upon which Surrealism farted and cavorted. With age, the black humor collected here has largely been surpassed, giving this book the feel of a vital museum piece. There are writers here who still hold their own (Peret, Carroll, Jarry, Huysmans and Baudelaire, among others), though it must be confessed that modern readers won't find the mad belly-laughs here. It is more funny-peculiar than funny-haha, and hits the brain like a shot of absinthe. If you have to pick one book with which to bludgeon someone to death, this would be a fine choice.

[César Carranza · Rating 5 out of 5]

La antología es bastante buena, no es sólo una compilación de relatos, yo lo veo más como una invitación a la lectura de los escritores que están en ella, la colección de ellos es bastante variada, desde Fourier, hasta Nietzsche, pasando por el Marqués de Sade, Leonora Carrington, y muchos más escritores ilustres. Breton nos lleva por un camino de poemas, cuentos y fragmentos de novelas y ensayos, todos conectados por el nada sencillo arte del humor negro. Muy recomendable.

[Alec Downie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love black humour, surrealism and philosophy, however this book is a collection of incoherent ramblings that pseudo intellectual people will say, (lie to themselves) are, "witty" or "hilarious", rather than admit that being pretentious, and devoid of real wit, is dull.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

L'humour noir, edited by Andre Breton, was intended to highlight the Surrealist's conception of humor, which he termed "a superior revolt of the mind," and the "mortal enemy of sentimentality." In addition to his introductory essay, Breton wrote a biographical and critical preface for each of the forty-five selections, and it is in these prefaces where Breton examines and expresses his conception of this essential form of humor. For example, from his discussion of Lewis Carroll, Breton gives us this gem: "Accomodation to the absurd readmits adults to the mysterious realm inhabited by children." And of Francis Picabia he wrote: "Picabia was the first to understand that any juxtaposition of words is valid and that its poetic virtue is all the greater the more gratuitous or irritating it seems at first glance." Definitely an anthology that deserves more readers.

[Jesús de la Garza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me sería imposible no darle las cinco estrellas a esta antología. Jamás me había carcajeado mientras leía como ocurrió con Alphonse Allais. También disfruté mucho la poesía de Picabia, la obra de Grabbe, los textos de Swift y los de De Quincey. Sin mencionar a los surrealistas que como siempre me han encantado.

[Ian Scuffling · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology wherein the biographic information provided by Breton tends to be more blackly comic than the selections he includes.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what i expected

[James Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

surreal reading! Bretons flash of wit makes for laughable and diarming engagement. He parry’s undermines your supposition with his pretty humour. He pulls the rug from one’s feet; such is pretty wit.

[Iván · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este es un libro fascinante como objeto de estudio. La gente que reúne es extensa y abarca muchas eras y disciplinas diferentes.
Aún así, no me gustó. La razón sincera es que simplemente esto no es lo mío. Con todas las explicaciones del mundo, el surrealismo no deja de parecerme poco más que un montón de sin-sentidos. Entender que esa es la idea no hace que lo disfrute. No pude admirar a los autores por las mismas razones que Breton y no pude admirar nada de muchos textos. Creo que no soy bueno con las compilaciones y menos con las que no tienen los textos completos.
Aún así disfruté mucho de varias cosas. Leí varios autores que tenía rato sin leer. El fragmento de "Una Modesta Propuesta" me tenía carcajeándome y ya es tiempo de que lea ese texto completo. Los condes De Sadé y Lautreamont siempre son geniales. Lo más conocidos fueron la verdad los que más me impresionaron o los que más recordé, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Kafka...El texto de Poe es la cosa más BIZARRA que he leído en mi vida ("El Ángel del Alcohol", si recuerdo bien). Fácilmente valió la cuota de entrada sólo por lo incómodo y extraño que era. También me encantó el texto de Arthur Cravan en el que trata de seducir a André Gide (¿o sólo quería ser su amigo? De todas formas, fue genial). El cuento de Leonora Carrington también era muy bueno. Otros más que honestamente no recuerdo del todo me gustaron bastante, pero la mayoría no los distingo y creo que me quedaba muchas veces más impresionado con su bizarra vida que con sus textos (Xavier Forneret y Jarry en especial). El ensayo al inicio de Breton también es muy bueno y representa una forma fascinante de ver al humor. En general puedo decir que este tema no es lo mío, pero creo que haber aprendido bastante leyendo esta compilación, aunque no tengo idea de qué.

[Lea]

Пожалуй, самая неприглядная книга, прочитанная мной за последние годы... То есть, совершенно не приглянулась. Думаю, потому что мое представление о чувстве юмора в целом и о черном юморе в частности существенно расходится с пониманием юмора Андре Бретоном. Для начала, мне не совсем понятно, почему Антология в подавляющем большинстве включает опусы психически неуравновешенных, склонных к суициду, хронических алкоголиков и просто выраженных маргиналов, можно подумать, что именно у этой категории и есть самое выраженное чувство юмора. Мне понравилось определение черного юмора как попытки Сверх-Я человека взять вверх над Я, но на деле, в моем представлении, книга никак это не иллюстрирует. И в результате, то, что Бретон продвигает как юмор, в моем представлении гнусность невообразимая, после рассказа Никудышный Стекольщик я книгу Бодлера в руки не возьму.

[Sarah Karasek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I treated this book like a lit class, and I think that's probably the best way to read it. Breton's introductions/bios to these writers are sometimes so infused with his own voice and sense of humor that supplementary internet articles served better for background information. There's also a good deal of Freudian psychology and philosophy (including Hegel), so anyone unfamiliar would benefit from reading up on those topics. All in all, a wonderful range of writing in this anthology, definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the genre.

[Annel Yáñez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lichtenberg, his hypochondria and hump are welcome to drink tea.

[Esteban Galarza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente compilación de autores canónicos mechados con rarezas que solo se encuentran en la antología. Las presentaciones de Bretón a cada autor son imperdibles

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surrealism was an art movement founded between the two world wars by its figurehead Andre Breton. The theory behind it was that Western rationality had built up modern society by suppressing humanity’s emotions, dreams, passions, and desires. In Freudian terms, this meant the id was imprisoned in the unconscious by the superego, or the collective society, that demanded obedience from the individual’s ego. The result was not only the misery of industrialization with its ugly factories and pollution, the repression of individual happiness, and a disconnection from nature, but also the insanity of two world wars. Hyper-rationality was killing the human spirit. So the Surrealists set out to set the unconscious free from its prison by embracing irrationality. Their art utilized intuition and chance to explore dream imagery, altered stated of consciousness, occult practice like automatic writing and fortune telling, and so-called primitive art from Africa, the Americas, and the South Pacific. In the end, they became one of the most ambitious, intriguing, and influential of the 20th century’s avant-garde art movements.

However, Andre Breton himself turned out to be a bit of a tyrant. Sooner or later, ever member of the Surrealist group got shown the exit by Breton for not being sufficiently Surrealist in the ways he wanted them to be. For a guy who claimed to embrace the intuitive and the irrational, you can’t say this was out of character. But another side of his bellicosity may have been the result of some of the other Surrealists finding more fame and commercial success than Breton. Ultimately, the Surrealists did make some incredible art, at least when taking the visual arts and film into account. Surrealist literature never reached the heights that other Surrealist mediums did. In any case, Breton put together his Anthology of Black Humor to showcase literary passages that capture and exemplify the spirit of Surrealism. As you may predict, it isn’t as engaging as the rest of the Surrealist project.

The book starts off with a good explanatory essay by Andre Breton. The purpose of black humor, in the sense of Surrealism, is to revolt against the repressive nature of society. He writes about humor that is cruel, violent, subversive, and allowed to run free with laughter being an outpouring of emotion that strikes a blow against the crushing weight of society’s superego. It is a volcanic outburst that liberates the individual from restraint, allowing an eruption of psychic energy and vitality that liberates each person so that their desires and creativity can flow freely. This humor has to be violent because its purpose is to break down all resistance to human freedom. One of Breton’s famous quotes is “beauty will be convulsive or it will be nothing at all.” What could be more convulsive than a burst of laughter at a sick and offensive joke, an explosive laughter so titanic in strength that it causes a disruption in the dreary orderliness of society? Humor has to be cruel and dark enough to be so disruptive. That is a tall demand to live up to.

Alas, most of the passages in this book do not reach those heights. At its best, this collection has some familiar names that go far in reaching the intention. It contains excerpts from Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, Sade’s Juliette, and Lewis Carroll’s “The Lobster Quadrille.” There are a few other lesser known works by famous authors like Charles Baudelaire’s story about deliberately ruining the day of a street vendor selling glassware, the drunken Edgar Allan Poe having a conversation with a hallucinated man made out of wine bottles, J.K. Huysmans explains the need to harvest ptomaine from corpses to be used for perfume bases and flavorings for food to be eaten by the deceased’s family, and finally Leonora Carrington convinces a hyena at the zoo to attend a ball disguised as her and eat all the food because she prefers to stay home. These morbid passages are the funniest, the most disturbing, and the most most memorable ones in the anthology.

There are other recognizable names included like Friedrich Nietzsche, Franz Kafka, Salvador Dali, Arthur Rimbaud, and Comte de Lautreamont. Aside from the name recognition, these chapters don’t do much to keep the book interesting. Breton has a funny way of selecting some obscure writings by these authors that don’t come across as hilarious or even lend much to the book overall. There is also some poetry and a few passages by unrecognizable authors as well. It’s probable that the French sense of humor does not translate well into English and Surrealist humor, which is intended to be irrational, makes it all that much more opaque and incomprehensible.

Anthology of Black Humor is, overall, an underwhelming collection of writing. There are very few laugh-out-loud moments and even the funniest parts aren’t the kind of humor that will make you laugh until you break out in tears. Also, too many of the chapters are simply beyond comprehension; a lot of them read like smug inside jokes that most of us will never be privileged enough to understand. This collection fails to reach the earth shattering intentions that Andre Breton lays out in the introduction. Yet again, this is one of those books that I love the idea of, but don’t feel satisfied with its realization. And if you really are still wondering what black humor is all about, just remember the cannibal who bit into the arm of a clown. With a look of disgust on his face, the cannibal said, “This tastes funny” and spit the clown meat out.

[Raúl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro clásico, de referencia. Una definición de un modo de escribir y de pensar la realidad de otra manera. Bajo el epígrafe "humor negro", Breton no solo se refiere al humor luctuoso, mórbido, criminal, que se refiere a la muerte con irreverencia y extraña naturalidad. Aunque esta forma de humor no deja de estar contenida en su clasificación, y de hecho, comienza con el texto clásico de Swift "Una modesta proposición",al que sigue un extracto del Juliette de Sade. Pero Breton define una forma de pensar, vivir y escribir que abarca lo irreverente, la objetualización de lo sagrado, la relativización del lenguaje, una mirada deslocalizada y paranoica de la realidad, un desbordamiento de lo subjetivo que rompe cualquier ley, etc. Encontramos en esta antología corroboraciones, sorpresas, autores interesantes... Yo descubro las veleidades pseudorracionales de Fourier, en la misma onda, las etimologías disparatadas y geniales de Jean-Pierre Brisset (que tanto interés despertaron en Foucault) y a un gran poeta, muerto muy joven, puntal del expresionismo y casi desconocido en español: Jacon van Hoddis. Con ellos me quedo y me lanzo a buscar sus escritos.

[Bernardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una antología que ha envejecido mal y que probablemente nunca fue muy interesante. Si buscaba ser divertida, su “sentido del humor” –que se burla exclusivamente y con muy poca habilidad de mujeres, niños, negros y judíos– ha sido hace mucho tiempo superado. Anacrónica, al igual que la traducción de Joaquín Jordá que Anagrama no ha renovado desde de los años setenta y que, seguramente, traduce los múltiples textos de sus traducciones al francés, cuenta con algunos fragmentos interesantes, a saber: el fragmento de La metamorfosis, de Kafka, el fragmento de un artículo delirante de Dalí, el alumno más avanzado de la clase que, sin embargo, es inmerecidamente atacado por el antólogo, y una versión extraña o no definitiva de La debutante, de Leonora Carrington –quizás simplemente una mala traducción del anticuado Jordá. El surrealismo, sin lugar a dudas, es –o fue– divertido por delirante, azaroso, incluso por irónico, pero, definitivamente, no por esto que aparentemente le parecía tan “hilarante” a su gran sacerdote. Era divertido precisamente por delirante, no por la burla vertical.

[Alvaro Muñoz Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

La selecció dels textos és una meravella! L’única cosa que sobra és el propi André Breton explicant les coses. Els textos que s’hi recullen ja són prou bons perquè el lector entenga de què va la cosa. Breton sembla aquella persona que no calla durant la pel·li i que et diu: “i ara quan la nena entre per aquella porta, veuràs!”

[Iñigo Cobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nunca he sido muy fan de las antologías, siempre las suelo dejar por la mitad, y eso hace de este libro uno muy especial para mí. Al menos unos 45 autores componen este libro, del s.XVII al s.XX, con relatos que desbordan originalidad, genialidad y personalidad. Mucho que aprender y admirar de todos ellos.

[Domenico Francesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un'antologia divertentissima e ancora oggi essenziale per capire cos'è davvero il black humour in un'epoca in cui il concetto viene non solo travisato ma anche strumentalizzato facendo passare per tale cose che nulla hanno a che fare con esso.

[Pablo Carballo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aburrido

[Jaime Bayona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, los comentarios introductorios de Breton no me parecieron nada especiales, pero hay algunos segmentos notables... Leonora Carrington

[Bic · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian Grabbe is a crack up. Pity he was of questionable ethics, but if you don't read too deep into it, the language is way ahead of his time.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just love it!

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

an essential anthology to understand the dark humor of the Surrealist movement.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like black humor is just wonderful. Perfecto para quienes gustan del humor negro.