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 our 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 fiction and poetry -- and fiction and poetry bringing surrealism into contemporary U.S. culture -- including works by Antonin Artaud, Leonora Carrington, Aime Cesaire, Franz Kafka, Frida Kahlo, Jamaica Kincaid, and Toni Morrison, as well as the work of painters, photographers, and collage artists including works by Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst, Meret Oppenheim, and Frida Kahlo.Historical Topics courses are designed for Writing and Literature Majors and Minors and are focused on the critical investigation of a specific historical topic, movement, style, or tradition of literary and performative production, typically before the year 1900. Students will read and write critically on these topics, including multi-modal responses, and will position the texts within a socio-historical context.

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