Existence is Elsewhere presents a fresh perspective on surrealism, highlighting its role as a significant contributor to the history of ideas rather than confining it to the realms of art history and literature. By expanding his expert analysis beyond Europe and the interwar period, Richardson enhances our understanding of surrealism as a dynamic and intellectually vibrant international movement.

Elliot King, Professor of Art History, Washington and Lee University, USA

Existence is Elsewhere addresses a glaring gap in the scholarship on surrealism, persuading the reader that this century-old movement should really be thought of not as an aspect of literature and the visual arts, but as a revolutionary current of thought. Richardson guides us with insight through the movement's conversations with individual philosophers, some familiar and others more unexpected, yet at the heart of this study is the contention that surrealism engages not just with particular concepts and intellectual frameworks, but with the transformative potential of thought and knowledge themselves.

Krzysztof Fijalkowski, Professor of Visual Culture, Norwich University of the Arts, UK

Existence is Elsewhere unites for the first time perspectives and reflections on the surrealists' engagement with philosophical ideas in a comprehensive fashion. The resulting picture of this relationship is a striking one: of writers and artists connected to the Surrealist Movement being consistently engaged with philosophical principles, which they are intent on tempering or repurposing for and through certain key concepts of Surrealism. Philosophies ancient and modern reemerge here in brilliant new spectra as they whirl out of the Surrealist centrifuge.'

Will Atkin, author of Surrealist Sorcery (2023), and Teaching Fellow at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK