When Andres Breton first used the word surrealism, he claimed ownership of the word, attributing it to the movement and claiming it was independent from any prior associations. From that point in time in 1924, surrealism thinking has come far in terms of the depth of interpretation through a variety of works that have been published ever since. This progress is best exemplified with Breton’s original manifesto and Anais Nin’s more recent novel, House of Incest, where there is a similarity in content but a separation in structure. Nonetheless, this progress is undermined by an inherent failure to express the ideas in surrealist thinking efficiently by both Nin and Breton.
Within Breton’s manifesto and Nin’s novel, there are a number of similarities …show more content…
In House of Incest, the narrator is awakened from a protected, previously oblivious state only to see “the skeleton of a ship choked in its own sails.” This is yet another metaphor for the loss of innocence associated with growing up; at this point, Nin relates the demise of our minds to the aging of our bodies. Here, the ship is representative of our own body, taking us to a final destination amidst troubled waters. This extended metaphor is confirmed with the ship’s death, which would occur, of course, once the ship reaches its destination among the rocks. Here, the cause of death is due to the ship’s own mode of transport (i.e. the sails). This struggle is reminiscent of the “imperative practical necessity” associated with adulthood in Breton’s manifesto. In other words, the ship would travel across a body of water (again, separated from a previous, submerged state) at the expense of its own life due to what is expected from it: leaving the safety of a port to meet its fate at a distant …show more content…
However, it would certainly help to have read it beforehand. In addition to Breton’s manifesto, a third and final text that would contribute to a deeper understanding of both these works would be Krauss’ The Photographic Conditions of Surrealism. Within this work, Krauss criticizes what she considers to be surrealist photography, yet another medium for surrealist thinking and interpretations. When grouped with Breton’s original manifesto and Nin’s novel, there is a triad of surrealist works as well as commentary. In other words, Nin’s novel and Krauss’ commentary both exemplify surrealism while implementing Breton’s way of thinking into their own interpretations of what surrealism is. Whether these interpretations are deviations or not, they provide examples of surrealism in various types of media and contribute to a reader’s understanding of what surrealism is in practice beyond what Breton summarized in his
Within Breton’s manifesto and Nin’s novel, there are a number of similarities …show more content…
In House of Incest, the narrator is awakened from a protected, previously oblivious state only to see “the skeleton of a ship choked in its own sails.” This is yet another metaphor for the loss of innocence associated with growing up; at this point, Nin relates the demise of our minds to the aging of our bodies. Here, the ship is representative of our own body, taking us to a final destination amidst troubled waters. This extended metaphor is confirmed with the ship’s death, which would occur, of course, once the ship reaches its destination among the rocks. Here, the cause of death is due to the ship’s own mode of transport (i.e. the sails). This struggle is reminiscent of the “imperative practical necessity” associated with adulthood in Breton’s manifesto. In other words, the ship would travel across a body of water (again, separated from a previous, submerged state) at the expense of its own life due to what is expected from it: leaving the safety of a port to meet its fate at a distant …show more content…
However, it would certainly help to have read it beforehand. In addition to Breton’s manifesto, a third and final text that would contribute to a deeper understanding of both these works would be Krauss’ The Photographic Conditions of Surrealism. Within this work, Krauss criticizes what she considers to be surrealist photography, yet another medium for surrealist thinking and interpretations. When grouped with Breton’s original manifesto and Nin’s novel, there is a triad of surrealist works as well as commentary. In other words, Nin’s novel and Krauss’ commentary both exemplify surrealism while implementing Breton’s way of thinking into their own interpretations of what surrealism is. Whether these interpretations are deviations or not, they provide examples of surrealism in various types of media and contribute to a reader’s understanding of what surrealism is in practice beyond what Breton summarized in his