Michael Löwy, Surrealism, and a Profane Re-enchantment of the World

Abstract

This review proposes a reading of Michael Löwy's book The Incandescent Comet – Romanticism, Surrealism, Subversion through the categories of memory and experience, reflecting, on one hand, on the organization of its sections and, on the other, on its heterogeneous content, where these categories emerge as a dialectical tension between the past and a utopian future. The work, composed of essays, textual fragments, and documents, explores the relationships between Surrealism, Romanticism, and Marxism, highlighting the dialectical tension between the past and the revolutionary horizon through theoretical explorations and analyses of historical figures, events, and places, as well as their elective affinities with Surrealism. Organized into four sections — Profane Illuminations, Constellations, Surrealist Women, and Surrealist Capitals — the book addresses themes such as radical freedom, language and magic, and resistance to the mechanization of bodies, creating tension between memory, experience, art, social theory, and revolution.