Jump Cuts

In this volume comprising 13 essays, Mark Polizzotti, award-winning translator, cultural critic and biographer of Andre Breton, brings fresh readings to topics both mainstream and esoteric. Drawing on three decades of critical writings, the book ranges across a broad swath of subjects - film, music, literature, translation, the pitfalls of biography, the current dilemma of the humanities - to map the creative act as it strains to fulfil our eternal, unrequited yearning for transcendence.The essays include "Profound Occultation," an elegant and incisive reevaluation of Surrealism's legacy; "Love and Theft," a dry-eyed look at Bob Dylan's freewheeling use of uncredited sources; "Lives Behind Lives," on the moments when a biographer's life merges with the subject's; "Surrealism's Children," which explores the limits of offense in art and society; as well as sharply written commentaries on the life of Alfred Jarry, the myth of Robert Johnson, the anguish of Laure (Colette Peignot), the hubris of Francis Picabia, the dyspepsia of Flaubert, the mind-twisting wordplay of Raymond Roussel, and the enduring power of films such as iVertigo/i, iOrpheus/i and iLast Year at Marienbad/i. .brbMark Polizzotti/B (born 1957) is an American translator and critic. His books include iRevolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton/i and iWhy Surrealism Matters/i. His essays and reviews have appeared in the iNew York Times/i, the iNew Republic/i, the iNation/i and elsewhere. He is the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature. He directs the publications program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.