Paul Eluard: Surrealist Poet

This past weekend was spent under books, dictionaries, and in poetry. My friend Jiah recommended that I read French surrealist poet Paul Eluard. I read two volumes of his poems: Capital of Pain and Love, Poetry. Both volumes were filled with stark images of elemental forces, themes of love and death, and the grotesque. Much I found to be nonsensical, though, my favorite of his poems were short, succinct and evocative. Apparently Eluard's involvement in Dada and Surrealism were followed with his infatuation with Stalin and his inability to see the authoritarian nature of Stalin's Communist Party. The connections between authoritarian communism and the surrealists is a troubling history worth greater examination. Perhaps because of his relationship to authoritarian communism, I was anticipating a starker political vision. I was impressed by the freedom in his verse and in many ways it reminded me of my favorite newsreels of Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez-- revolutionary in their refusal of didactics and exceptionally lyrical.