Which 1917 play by Guillaume Apollinaire introduced the word “Surrealism”?

Guillaume Apollinaire introduced the word “Surrealism” in his 1917 play Les Mamelles de Tirésias.

Apollinaire subtitled the play a “surrealist drama,” using a French term that combined the ideas of “above” or “beyond” with realism. The play premiered in Paris during the First World War and uses transformation, satire, exaggeration, and deliberately improbable theatrical events.

The story centers on Thérèse, who becomes the male character Tirésias, while her husband attempts to produce children in an extraordinary and comic way. Apollinaire’s title refers to the mythological Tiresias, a figure who experienced both male and female identities.

André Breton later gave Surrealism a more systematic artistic and literary definition, especially through his 1924 manifesto. This makes Apollinaire’s play an important early use of the term, but not the formal founding document of the movement.