Among Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective
collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on
an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a
phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on
to the next player for his contribution.
The technique got its name from results obtained in initial playing, "Le cadavre
/ exquis / boira / le vin / nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young
wine). Other examples are: "The dormitory of friable little girls puts the odious
box right" and "The Senegal oyster will eat the tricolor bread." These poetic fragments
were felt to reveal what Nicolas Calas characterized as the "unconscious reality
in the personality of the group" resulting from a process of what Ernst called "mental
contagion."
A method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled, the
result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator
adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective
noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what
the previous person contributed.
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