The Surrealism Reader: An Anthology of Ideas

The authors are correct in noting (just after intro) that this genre is vast and trying to wrangle it down to one book is nearly impossible, but this is a great place for anyone to start in exploration of this genre. Just started my read, so far it's a great read.

An unprecedented collection of texts, really important for understanding surrealism, from a wide range of authors. All the editors deserve praise and a congratulation to the Tate for publishing this. Many of the authors will not be familiar to the average reader, but are important within surrealism and had important things to say about the movement's perspectives. They include Annie Le Brun, Vincent Bounoure, Roger Caillois and Vratislav Effenberger as well as better known writers such as Breton and Aragon.It's nicely and solidly produced and has some good and unusual illustrations, including Emila Medkova, among the most important post-war surrealist photographers.

A well researched and well written book though I found it quite hard to understand some of the theory expounded by the surrealists.