Lesson plan
The Automatic Message
The Automatic Message (1933) ( ) was one of André Breton's significant theoretical works about automatism. The essay was first published in the magazine Minotaure, No. 3-4, (Paris) 1933. In 1997 it became the title of a compilation of surrealist writing of André Breton, Paul Éluard and Philippe Soupault, amongst others. The book includes two vital "automatic" texts of surrealism. Breton's prefatory essay The Automatic Message relates the technique to the underlying concepts and aesthetic of surrealism. The Magnetic Fields (Les Champs Magnétiques) (1919) by Breton and Soupault, was the first work of literary surrealism and one of the foundations of modern European thought and writing. The Automatic Message contains the authorised translation by the poet David Gascoyne, who was himself a member of the group and a friend of both authors. The Immaculate Conception (1930) traces the interior and exterior life of man from Conception and Intra-Uterine Life to Death and The Original Judgement, and includes a section with a series of "simulations" of various types of mental instability.
Article summary
The Automatic Message (1933) ( ) was one of André Breton's significant theoretical works about automatism. The essay was first published in the magazine Minotaure, No. 3-4, (Paris) 1933. In 1997 it became the title of a compilation of surrealist writing of André Breton, Paul Éluard and Philippe Soupault, amongst others. The book includes two vital "automatic" texts of surrealism. Breton's prefatory essay The Automatic Message relates the technique to the underlying concepts and aesthetic of surrealism. The Magnetic Fields (Les Champs Magnétiques) (1919) by Breton and Soupault, was the first work of literary surrealism and one of the foundations of modern European thought and writing. The Automatic Message contains the authorised translation by the poet David Gascoyne, who was himself a member of the group and a friend of both authors. The Immaculate Conception (1930) traces the interior and exterior life of man from Conception and Intra-Uterine Life to Death and The Original Judgement, and includes a section with a series of "simulations" of various types of mental instability.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.