André Breton

This is a French poet, surrealist theorist, and author of Mad Love. Generally considered to be the founder of Surrealism and its primary theorist. Published thirteen years after the "Surrealist Manifesto," Mad Love is part autobiography, part ars poetica. A first-person narrative, Breton explores both his relationship with artist Jacqueline Lamba, his thoughts and experiences about love and desire, and analyzes some of his own poetry, most notably "Sunflower," which is a poem he rereads in light of new insights that he has due to Lamba.

Jacqueline Lamba

This is French artist and Breton's second wife. She was also the mother of Breton's daughter Aube Breton. Breton's seeing and meeting Lamba for the first time is described in Mad Love, and the book is an exploration of how this relationship shaped Breton's thinking about love and about his poetry. Breton and Lamba separated in 1943, six years after...