FRANKLIN ROSEMONT 1943-2009

 

Franklin Rosemont speaking at Loyola University, Chicago, 2007. Photo by Thomas Good / NLN (wikimedia).

I want to take a minute to bid fair well to a fellow worker and surrealist who I never met, but who I know from his books that grace my shelves and his words that float through my mind. That man is Franklin Rosemont, who died on 12th April 2009. 

It was his editing and introduction to the 1978 book: “What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings of Andre Breton.” that first brought him to my attention, it was one of the main books that really inspired me to link my existing interests in archaeology, anthropology, and politics with art and writing. Little did I know at the time that this book was significant in bridging the gap between the traditional surrealist movement around Breton himself, and the modern surrealist movement that was developing since. However, he didn’t limit himself to writing about surrealism, he set up the Chicago Surrealist Group, with whom he helped organise the 1968 World Surrealist Exhibition at Gallery Bugs Bunny in Chicago, not content with this he also became one of the most prolific historians of american radical labour history, principally of IWW history – also co-editing the famous “big red songbook”, the slimmed down version of which lives in my guitar case.

To me it was his introduction to the Writings of Andre Breton, which if you haven’t read it is massive and encyclopedic, that really inspired me to seek and find connections between my interests, to explore new seemingly unconnected avenues, to browse and sample, and to run with ideas and accept the surreal consequences… in many respects this blog would not exist without Franklin Rosemont. 

“Everything beckons to us, clamouring to be totally transformed, but everyone pretends not to notice.” (Rosemont 1978 p.17) 

Obituaries and Memorials:

Archambeau, R. 2009. Death of a Surrealist: Franklin Rosemont, R.I.P. samizdatblog.tuesday, april 14, 2009. http://samizdatblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/death-of-surrealist-franklin-rosemont.html

B. 2009. Franklin Rosemont RIP. Portland IMC 14.Apr.2009 10:18 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2009/04/390185.shtml\

Khatib, K. 2009. Franklin Rosemont RIP April 12th, 2009. InterActivist Info Exchange. Tue, 04/14/2009. http://info.interactivist.net/node/12524  

Shibek, M. K. 2009. Franklin Rosemont 1943 – 2009. The Unexpected Sound. TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2009. Online: http://theunexpectedsound.blogspot.com/

@ndy. 2009. Franklin Rosemont (October 2, 1943–April 12, 2009). Slackbastard April 15th, 2009. http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=1832