Surrealism was a radical literary response to World War I and the breakdown of Western cultural certainties, a critique of what had been called reality and a critique of capitalism. Surrealist writers and visual artists connect the subconscious with the everyday in works that challenge and transform conventional ideas of voice, image, story, music, and self. We will discuss the ways in which these writers and visual artists create radical visions of mortality and love, the mysterious and the irrational, the body and society. We will explore surrealist literature and art -- and literature and art connecting surrealism to contemporary U.S. culture -- including works by Leonora Carrington, Aimé Césaire, Bob Kaufman, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, Alice Rahon, and others, as well as the work of painters and other visual artists, including works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, and Méret Oppenheim. We will read for pleasure, inspiration, and understanding while asking ourselves how we, as writers and artists, can make use of surrealist strategies to disrupt our own boundaries and stretch our artistic practices.

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