Breton, André

(born Feb. 18, 1896, Tinchebray, France—died Sept. 28, 1966, Paris) French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919 he helped found the Dada magazine Littérature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing technique. In 1924 his Manifeste du surréalisme provided a definition of Surrealism, of which he was the chief promoter. In the 1930s he joined and then broke with the Communist Party; in 1938 he founded the Fédération de l'Art Revolutionnaire Indépendant with Leon Trotsky in Mexico. He spent World War II in the U.S. and returned to France in 1946. His Poèmes appeared in 1948. He also wrote essays, works of criticism, and novels, including Nadja (1928).