Mad Muses and the Early Surrealists

Download or read book Mad Muses and the Early Surrealists written by Justin Vicari and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early surrealists attempted to create art directly from the unconscious, but the resulting art often reveals the stamp of its age. It is generally accepted that a certain macho sensibility prevailed within the movement, excluding queer sensibilities and reducing women to object status. In startling new readings of Breton, Bataille, Cocteau, Artaud, Crevel and others, Justin Vicari examines the intersections between surrealism and mental illness, deploying an interdisciplinary approach, which includes aesthetic theory, radical politics, and psychoanalysis. Of particular interest is the representation of the ideal woman as not only sexually available but mentally ill, a hysteric muse representing a kind of "authenticity" lost in modern life.