Walking for Revolution: From Surrealism to the Situationist International

Résumé En

This article examines the Parisian Surrealist and Situationist engagement with urban walking as a critical artistic practice. Exploring how the theme of urban wandering, essential to Parisian Surrealism in its early years, is re-elaborated in the Situationist concept of the dérive [drift], the article sheds new light on the relationship between these rival movements. Firstly, it offers a narrative account of Surrealist wandering that closely considers two events, the Dadaist visit to Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in 1921 and the aimless wandering (déambulation) experiment in Blois in 1924, alongside two landmark Surrealist texts, Louis Aragon's Le Paysan de Paris (1926) and André Breton's Nadja (1928). Secondly, it situates the difficult relationship of Guy Debord to Surrealism in the history of artistic avant-gardes. Thirdly, it highlights the importance of Surrealism to the elaboration of the dérive, by analysing the implicit and explicit references to Surrealism through Debord's writings of the 1950s. Finally, it turns to the literary precursors of the dérive, distinct from but related to the Baudelairean flâneur, to explore the poetic roots of Surrealism and the Situationist International in modern French literature. This article illuminates the importance of Surrealist concepts to the Situationist city, to deepen our understanding of the Parisian avant-garde and their legacies.