ABSTRACT
This chapter shows Breton's further research into occultism, as a result of his renewed interest in certain aspects of Romanticism and, through this interest and his consequent reading, his awareness of Victor Hugo. His quest is divided into three distinct categories: firstly, into the influences of Romanticism, through hermeticism and occultism; secondly, into "primitive mentality" through primitive art; and thirdly, through the poetry of love. The commonality of the three categories lies in their freedom from the imposition of social traditions and "education". Undeterred by the failure of his venture into politics, Breton was still searching – looking to Romantic thought and literature – for the means by which to construct some kind of new social organisation. The concept of 'the primitive mentality' is one in which Breton became interested during the Great War, when he was deployed at a mental hospital in Nantes as a young medical officer.
