Surrealism in literature can be defined as an artistic attempt to bridge together reality and the imagination. Surrealists seek to overcome the contradictions of the conscious and unconscious minds by creating unreal or bizarre stories full of juxtapositions.
Founded by André Breton (1896-1966), surrealism began as an artistic movement in Paris in the 1920s and lasted until the 1940s. Writer and philosopher Breton propelled this movement with his publication of The Manifesto of Surrealism, as a way of fighting against the way art was understood at the time.
With the horrors of World War I still in Europe's wake, art had become controlled by politics. It came to be used as a way of maintaining order and keeping the revolution at bay. However, surrealists wanted to break free from the constraints being posed on art and to do so in an extreme, yet positive way.
Though they fought against political control, the movement's goal was not political in nature. Surrealism sought to free people spiritually and psychologically. These artists and writers wanted to repair the damage done by WWI. Unfortunately, World War II was on the brink, and such a movement made the surrealists a target. During the rise of Nazism and Fascism, many surrealists were forced to seek haven in America. Fortunately, for American culture, their ideas began affecting changes in the States as well.