Annie Le Brun: Darkness and Method FRANÇOIS-RENÉ SIMON Mentioning Annie Le Brun in the context of this publication cannot be done without recalling her preference not to participate in it. This “distance” she maintains — which she places before any attempt to localize or reduce her ”way of thinking to any particular ism, even surrealism — has a certain effect. Even though she once gave it her full support and it remains a major reference. It is, moreover, in this sunny light—the radiance of our youth—that I allow myself, not without a certain levity, this almost haphazard stroll through one of the most substantial, solid, and necessary bodies of work of these last fifty years. Surrealism. This word, especially in its adjective form—and this is no accident—has become such a band-aid for ...