The Edge of Surrealism : A Roger Caillois Reader

Acknowledgments ix Introduction i I. THEORY AND THE THIRTIES, 1934-1939 Surrealism and Its Environs 1. Testimony (Paul Eluard) 59(7) 2. The Praying Mantis: From Biology to Psychoanalysis 66(16) 3. Letter to André Breton; Literature in Crisis 82(7) 4. Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia 89(18) Biology and Myth 5. Review of L'Homme, cet inconnu, by Dr. Alexis Carrel 107(3) 6. The Function of Myth 110(14) 7. The Noon Complex 124(6) 8. For a Militant Orthodoxy: The Immediate Tasks of Modern Thought 130(11) Lucifer at the College of Sociology 9. Interview with Gilles Lapouge, June 1970 141(6) 10. First Lecture: Sacred Sociology and the Relationships among "Society," "Organism," and "Being" 147(8) 11. Dionysian Virtues 155(5) 12. Aggressiveness as a Value 160(6) 13. The Birth of Lucifer 166(7) 14. Paris, a Modern Myth 173(17) 15. Sociology of the Intellectual 190(15) II. WRITING FROM PATAGONIA, 1940-1945 After the College 16. Preamble to the Spirit of Sects 205(8) 17. Discussions of Sociological Topics: On "Defense of the Republic" 213(4) 18. The Nature and Structure of Totalitarian Regimes 217(18) Treasure and Culture 19. Duties and Privileges of French Writers Abroad 235(5) 20. Patagonia 240(12) 21. The Myth of Secret Treasures in Childhood 252(10) 22. The Situation of Poetry 262(6) 23. Pythian Heritage (On the Nature of Poetic Inspiration) 268(11) III. POSTWAR STANCES, 1946-1978 The Moralist 24. Loyola to the Rescue of Marx 279(5) 25. Paroxysms of Society 284(14) 26. Metamorphoses of Hell 298(17) Sims and Images 27. The Image 315(5) 28. Fruitful Ambiguity 320(6) 29. Surrealism as a World of Signs 326(11) Diagonal Science 30. The Great Bridgemaker 337(6) 31. A New Plea for Diagonal Science 343(5) 32. The Natural Fantastic 348(11) Roger Caillois Timeline 359(4) Notes 363(38) Bibliography 401(14) Index 415