Dean of the College Presents
FACULTY SEMINARS TONIGHT!
Surrealism’s "found object": The enigmatic Mexico of Artaud and Breton
In this talk I will explore the paradoxical situation of literary surrealism in Mexico during the 1930s and 1940s. Mexico’s historical circumstances in this nationalistic post-Revolutionary period created an atmosphere largely hostile to European surrealism. Yet in the same period, Mexico opened its borders to many visitors and émigrés from Europe, including Antonin Artaud, André Breton, Luis Buñuel, Leonora Carrington, Wolfgang Paalen, and Benjamin Péret. For these writers and artists, all of whom were affiliated in some way with surrealism, Mexico appeared as the perfect surrealist “found object,” embodying certain mysteries that might reveal unexpected truths. From another perspective, however, we can see how Mexico acted as a kind of Rorschach image by which the European surrealists disclosed more about themselves than about the object of their fascination. In this talk I will consider various provocative texts by André Breton and Antonin Artaud as they engage in complex ways with the enigmatic Other they found in Mexico’s geography, its history, and its mestizo people.
Please join us for a reception in the Olin atrium at 6:30 p.m.
For more information, call 845-758-7490.
Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102