A Glimpse into French Surrealism in Spain: The Translation and Censorship of André Breton's Manifestes du Surréalisme
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to show the reception of the French surrealist André Breton's most significant book, Manifiestos del surrealismo (Manifestoes of Surrealism in English), in Spain during the second period of Francoism (1959-1975). As this literary work was examined beforehand by censors to validate its publication, the main aspect explored in this study is the censorship of Manifiestos del surrealismo, since the book was partly modified before being officially published. The book was first translated into Spanish in 1964, forty years after the publication of the First Surrealist Manifesto in France. An analysis of the censorship files has proven that the modified segments were primarily related to politics and that, even though André Breton was considered a Marxist, the book was not completely censored before being released. This also confirms that the second period of Francoism was not as strict as the previous one during which Spanish publishing houses did not even try to release literary works related to the Surrealist movement.