Investigating sex : surrealist research, 1928-1932

In January 1928, long before Kinsey or Masters and Johnson began their clinical surveys, the Paris surrealists initiated their own, remarkable, 'Researches into Sexuality', in the form of twelve round-table interrogations, transcribed here for the first time in English. The participants in these impassioned debates included many of surrealism's best-known figures: Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Antonin Artaud...And there were unusual 'guests': an amorous, unfrocked Jesuit, a mysterious Madame Lena, stray militants from the Communist Party. Though there is plenty of humour in the transcripts, and not all of it intentional, the participants were trying scrupulously to record every aspect of sexual love, cataloguing preferences and positions, timings and quantities. This is, however, no celebration of libertinism. For most participants, eroticism and elective love were inseparable -- ideally, at least. There can be few people who have ever explored sexual desire with such honesty or such desperate hope. This books is many things. A unique historical record of sexual practice and ethics. A fundamental text for understanding the surrealist movement. And, for all its idiosyncrasies, a document which retains an extraordinary vitality.