Surrealism and its Legacies
| Module title | Surrealism and its Legacies |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3504 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Felicity Gee (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 30 |
|---|
Module description
From its inception in Paris as a literary movement in the 1920s to contemporary works of art, film and literature, Surrealism has revolutionized the ways in which the ordinary world can be imagined and represented artistically. This module investigates the histories of Surrealism across the world, tracing its impact and longevity within the modernist avant-garde and into popular culture; as well as the bold aesthetic choices made by its key practitioners and followers. The second half of the module concentrates on surrealism’s contemporary legacies – from literature to fashion and marketing – in such regions as Japan, the U.S., Argentina, Mexico, and the UK. The module asks: What is Surrealism? And why is it still relevant almost a century later? There is no previous knowledge necessary, but the module will build on pathways such as modernism and material culture, critical theory, postcolonial studies, humanities after the human, modern art history, and film studies. You will discover how a small group of artists collaborated on films, art projects, books and events in order to see the world anew after the terrors of the First World War.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This research-led module aims to develop new ways of approaching modern and contemporary culture – thinking otherwise. Surrealism has a popular image often determined by the works of Salvador Dalí and Réné Magritte, but it was so much more. It was the first literary movement to include so many female artists and writers, as well as writers and artists of colour, and queer artists.
You will discover how a small group of artists collaborated on artistic works, events, and exhibitions, in order to see the world anew after the terrors of the First World War. You will thoroughly explore Surrealism’s position within the modernist avant-garde, and you will learn how Surrealism and modernity are linked through the Surrealists’ appropriation of new media (film, photography) and of concurrent socio-cultural trends (psychoanalysis, supernatural, crime fiction, documentary film, international travel, for example). You will have the opportunity to work across literature, film and art history and to be able to understand the relevance of other disciplines within the field of film studies, applying art historical research to both modernist and contemporary filmmaking. Seminars will give you the opportunity to discuss and unpack Surrealism in all its forms, and you will have the opportunity to engage with a range of source materials, with time given to the presentation of individual and group research aims.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of Surrealism, its major practitioners, and the debates that it raised as a radical movement.
- 2. Demonstrate research-specific skills in working with primary source materials (texts, objects, films) close analysis.
- 3. Read closely between literature, painting and film and be able to better understand the term avant-garde and its position within modernist studies.
- 4. Take risks that mirror the experiments taken by the surrealists in formal style and thought this is supported fully by the educational goals on the module.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Develop an advanced analytical skill in close formal reading of primary texts, and images.
- 6. Develop an advanced ability to evaluate and respond to theoretical concepts and debates and understand their particular relevance to the individual and collective study of film, literature and art history.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Communicate ideas clearly and gain confidence and knowledge through peer interaction.
- 8. Construct a clear and coherent argument; to demonstrate advanced research skills and to achieve competence and fluency through essay writing.
- 9. Develop confidence to propose innovative and original ideas supported by the module learning plan.
Syllabus plan
The module’s precise content may vary from year to year, but topics are likely to be drawn from the following:
- The Paris circle – André Breton, the Surrealist Manifesto, séances and automatic writing
- Writing and photographing Paris – the flâneur, the flea-market, dreams and the uncanny – André Breton, Louis Aragon, Eugene Atget
- Poetry and Form
- Early Surrealist film collaboration – Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, Germaine Dulac
- The everyday and the marvellous – Surrealist documentary
- Transatlantic avant-gardes – America as a hub for those travelling in exile
- Female Surrealists? Women and Surrealism
- American Surrealism 1940s – 1960s
- The everyday and the marvellous – Surrealist documentary
- Czech Surrealism – Jan Svankmajer (animation) and Jaromil Jireš (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders)
- British Seaside Surrealism
- Surrealism in Latin America – (Raul Ruiz; Alejandro Jodorowsky)
- Japan and Surrealism – Abe Kobo and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Collaborations
- From Eraserhead to Twin Peaks – David Lynch’s surrealist tales
- Collage in painting (Max Ernst, Claude Cahun) and in film (Joseph Cornell, Guy Maddin)
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 66 | 234 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | Seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 11 | Lectures/Workshops |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 33 | Film Screenings |
| Guided Independent Study | 33 | Study Group Preparation and Meetings |
| Guided Independent Study | 70 | Seminar Preparation (individual) |
| Guided Independent Study | 131 | Reading, Research and essay preparation |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 35 | 2,000 words | 1-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| Object/Primary Source Analysis | 15 | 500 words | 1-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| Essay/Audio-Visual Essay/Creative Film | 50 | Essay: 3,500 Audio-Visual Essay: 10-12 minutes Creative Film: 6-7 minutes | 1-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay | 1-9 | Referral/deferral period |
| Object Analysis | Object Analysis | 1-9 | Referral/deferral period |
| Essay. Audio-Visual Essay/Short Film | Essay. Audio-Visual Essay/Short Film | 1-9 | Referral/deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
First Manifesto of Surrealism (André Breton, 1924)
Nadja (André Breton, 1928)
Paris Peasant (Louis Aragon, 1926)
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1837)
Woman in the Dunes/The Face of Another (Kobo Abe, 1964)
Down Below (Leonora Carrington, 1940)
Chasm: A Weekend (Dorothea Tanning, 2004)
Core Viewing:
A selection of short experimental and avant-garde films (Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, and Salvador Dalí, Germaine Dulac, Joseph Cornell)
Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk); Dreams That Money Can Buy (Hans Richter, 1928, 1948)
Las Hurdes; Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Buñuel, 1930; 1972)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jireš, 1970)
A selection of experimental films by Maya Deren (1940s)
Alice (and other shorts) (Jan Svankmajer, 1980)
City of Pirates; Three Crowns of the Sailor (Raúl Ruiz, 1983)
Endless Poetry (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 2013)
Eraserhead; Wild at Heart; episodes from Twin Peaks (David Lynch)
The Face of Another; Pitfall (Teshigahara, 1966, 1961)
Secondary Sources:
Breton, André, ‘Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924’, in Manifestoes of Surrealism, pp. 3-47 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010).
Desnos, Robert, ‘The Work of Man Ray’ [1923]; Man Ray ‘The Age of Light’ [1934]; and Man Ray ‘On Photographic Realism’ [1935], in Christopher Phillips (ed.) Photography in the Modern Era: European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913-1940, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989, pp 7-10; 52 – 54; and 57 – 59 respectively.
Knowles, Kim, A Cinematic Artist: The Films of Man Ray, (Bern: Peter Lang, 2009)
Kuenzli Dada and Surrealist Film, Cambridge M.A.: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 207-220
Dalí, Salvador, ‘'The Object as Revealed in Surrealist Experiment' [1931], in Hershel B. Chipp (ed.), Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics,(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)
Almer, Patricia. Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism. Munich and London: Prestel, Manchester Art Gallery, 2009.
Adamowicz, Elza. Surrealism: Crossings/Frontiers European Connections. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006.
—. Surrealist Collage in Text and Image. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Ades, Dawn, Photomontage. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
Ruiz, Raúl. The Poetics of Cinema. Translated by Brian Holmes. Paris: Éditions Dis Voir, 2005.
Richardson, Michael. Refusal of the Shadow: Surrealism and the Caribbean. Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski and Michael Richardson. London and New York: Verso, 1996.
—. Surrealism and Cinema. Oxford: Berg, 2006.
Foster, Hal. Compulsive Beauty. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press, 1993.
Freud, Sigmund. “Creative Writers and Daydreaming.” In The Freud Reader, by Peter Gray. London: Vintage, 1995 (1907).
Hammond, Paul (ed.) The Shadow and Its Shadow: Surrealist Writings on the Cinema, (San Francisco: City Light Books, 2000).
Krauss, Rosalind, ‘The Photographic Conditions of Surrealism’, October, Vol. 19, (Winter, 1981), pp. 3-34
Bazin, André 'Cruelty and Love in Los Olvidados' 1972, The Exterminating Angel, Nazarin, and Los Olvidados: Three Films by Luis Bunuel, trans Nicholas Fry, London: Lorimer Publishing
Sims, Terry Ann, In the Mind’s Eye: Dada and Surrealism, New York: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Abberville Press, 1985.
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Origin date | 8/2/23 |
| Last revision date | 10/3/23 |
