Section I (1927-1930) Summary and Analysis

Section I contains seventeen writings of one to three pages. Bataille states his surrealist position in each subsection. Surrealism in art and literature puts images, ideas, and objects in contrast with each other to illustrate a point which may or may not be rational or sensible. Bataille presents words with similarly incongruous ideas.

His first essay "[Dream]" comes from psychoanalytic therapy that Bataille has at the urging of Dr. Mausse. Figure 1 precedes the article and shows young Georges in 1898, sitting on his father's knee, wearing a suit and sea-captain's hat while his older brother sits beside him on the other knee. Georges dreams of riding streets of Reims on his bicycle. The road annoys him because the pavement is broken up by streetcar tracks. He looks for a smooth road to ride up and down. The bicyclist...