In 1932, at the peak of French colonialism, a group of Martiniquan students at the Sorbonne established a Caribbean Surrealist Group, and published a single issue of a journal called Legitime defense. Immediately banned by the authorities, it passed almost unnoticed at the time. Yet it began a remarkable series of debates between surrealism and Caribbean intellectuals that had a profound impact on the struggle for cultural identity. In the next two decades these exchanges greatly influenced the evolution of the concept of negritude, initiated revolution in Haiti in 1946, and crucially affected the development of surrealism itself.

This fascinating book presents a series of key texts-most of them never before translated into English-which reveal the complexity of this relationship between black anti-colonialist movements in the Caribbean and the most radical of the European avant-gardes. Included are Rene Menil's subtle philosophical essays and the fierce polemics of Aime and Suzanne Cesaire, appreciations of surrealism by Haitian writers, lyrical evocations of the Caribbean by Andre Breton and Andre Masson, and rich explorations of Haiti and voodoo religion by Pierre Mabille and Michel Leiris.

"Will transform how surrealism is understood." -Professor Paul Gilroy
Reviews
The Surrealists' absolute refusal to accommodate themselves to the values of colonial Europe aroused the admiration of poets and intellectuals in the French-speaking Caribbean who were leading the resistance to political and cultural suppression. Their encounters are brought vividly to life in these texts by writers whose candid and often fierce debates ... are no less relevant today than they were then. -- Professor Dawn Ades, University of Essex
Refusal of the Shadow offers a powerful reminder that there is still much to learn about the complexities of colonialism and its political and cultural negation. There can be no doubt that this invaluable anthology will transform how surrealism is understood. Beyond that, it commands attention for placing Caribbean sensibilities back at the centre of European accounts of modernism's unfolding. -- Professor Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic



Book Information
ISBN 9781859840184
Author Michael Richardson
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint Verso Books
Publisher Verso Books
Weight(grams) 553g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 152mm * 25mm