ABSTRACT
Surrealisme et sexualite was to become integrated in Angela Carter's subsequent writing in multiple ways. It at once confirmed and consolidated the issues relating to surrealism, representation, gender and desire with which she had been concerned in Doctor Hoffman and aided her formulation of a new critical language with which to confront and deconstruct myths of femininity. The author suggests that Surrealisme et sexualite should be read as a companion piece to The Sadeian Woman, at once signalling Carter's intellectual debt to surrealism and to Gauthier's feminist critique of the movement. Surrealisme et sexualite is fraught with tension regarding the revolutionary potential of surrealism. Surrealisme et sexualite catalogues and analyses various depictions of 'woman' in surrealist art and literature, ranging from celestial and divine creatures, associated with nature and innocence, to 'woman as instrument of the devil': the sexually insatiable temptress, the praying mantis, the femme fatale or the sorceress.
