Overview
Although the self-definition of Surrealism and the initial defining of science fiction as a genre both took place in the 1920s and the links between the two are manifest, no full study has appeared till now on Surrealism and SF. Across ten original essays, Surrealism, Science Fiction and Comics looks at how the Surrealist movement in France and the USA used, informed, contributed to, and criticised SF from that moment, whilst including discussion of the related genre of comics. Among its aims are a reassessment of Jules Verne in the light of Surrealism and an analysis of the debate in the 1950s on the ‘new’ Anglo-American literature arriving in France. This received, in fact, a mixed reception from the Surrealists of that decade even though writers and intellectuals close to the movement in the 1920s were directly responsible for its success. The book includes further essays on the subsequent impact of Surrealism on SF novelists J.G. Ballard and Alan Burns, and features essays that argue for Salvador Dalí’s closeness to SF in the 1960s and his disagreement with the earlier scientific romance defined by Verne. The chapters that bring in comics range from theoretical discussions of the relation between the original comic strips of Rodolphe Töpffer and the key Surrealist technique of automatism, used in art and writing, through the cybernetic implications of the proto-SF Surrealist ciné-roman ‘M. Wzz…’ of 1929, which has never discussed in any detail before, to the 1948 Vache paintings by René Magritte, inspired by Louis Forton’s strip Les Pieds nickelés. This pioneering set of essays shows how Surrealism from the 1920s to the 1970s did not just receive and adapt SF but impacted the genre in its later manifestations.
Full Product Details
Author: Gavin Parkinson (The Courtauld Institute of Art (United Kingdom))
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Imprint: Liverpool University Press
Volume: 50
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 23.90cm
Weight: 0.440kg
ISBN: 9781781381434
ISBN 10: 1781381437
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 05 May 2015
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A timely and fascinating collection that raises important contemporary questions and speaks to several disciplines. -- Hugo Frey Parkinson has done an admirable job adding details and signposts to the endless journey of Surrealism. -- Laura Winton Rain Taxi
A timely and fascinating collection that raises important contemporary questions and speaks to several disciplines. -- Hugo Frey, Head of History, University of Chichester and co-author, 'The Graphic Novel: An Introduction' (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
A timely and fascinating collection that raises important contemporary questions and speaks to several disciplines. Parkinson has done an admirable job adding details and signposts to the endless journey of Surrealism.
Author Information
Gavin Parkinson is Lecturer in European Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art. His previous books include 'Surrealism, Art and Modern Science: Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Epistemology' (Yale University Press, 2008) and 'The Duchamp Book' (Tate Publishing, 2008).
