André Breton

It's the birthday of the author of The Surrealist Manifesto (1924), André Breton, born in Tinchebray, France (1896).

As a young man, Breton was interested in mental illness and Freud's theory of the unconscious. Breton studied to become a doctor but never qualified, and in World War I served in a neurological ward for the wounded. After the war ended, Breton joined the Dada movement, an anti-war art movement that rejected convention and emphasized the illogic and absurd, but he was disturbed by Dada's negativity and wanted instead to figure out if man could be reconciled with the world.

In 1924, Breton wrote The First Surrealist Manifesto, recommending mankind put aside inhibition and prejudice and adopt a new state of being where dream and fantasy are joined to the everyday world. The manifesto was meant to be a revolutionary document and was signed by a number of French artists and writers.

-Writer's Almanac