Surrealism is, first of all, an immense force for divisiveness. The way in is not by means of probes and tests, but by a brusque mutation of the spirit which overthrows in an instant every means of thought and feeling. This does not mean that surrealism is, as its detractors would have it, an absurd wager, but only that it will not enter the Procrustean bed of their conceptions; nor should it be supposed that this indispensable mental mutation is not within the reach of everyone. Every man can, if he wants, discover within himself an interior domain where it becomes possible to set foot within the boundaries of surrealist worlds. If they are separated from these worlds, it is because they are first of all separated from themselves, cut off from their own secret domain. Understanding surrealism is nothing more than understanding one's self. That is possible, however, only on the condition of breaching deeply that wall which a classic, rationalist education has built in us, and which divides us stupidly from ourselves.

Surrealism is a human experience, and every human experience has meaning; it is that meaning which we are going to try to set forth here.

-vii-