“Surrealism especially has entered our everyday language; we talk of ‘surreal humour’ or a ‘surreal plot’ to a film. This very continuity means that it is difficult to place them at one remove from us in ‘history’.” (HOPKINS 2004: Introduction)
Defining Surrealism has become, as HOPKINS’s statement illustrates, a very challenging task due to its wide prevalence in contemporary speech and language, which makes it difficult to isolate Surrealism historically and to distinguish between its intended meanings within certain historical epochs. As the following section will outline, Surrealism has been continuously influenced and shaped from generation to generation and has therefore been marked by different characteristics throughout history. The long historical chronology (cf. ASPLEY 2010: XV) of the surreal has indeed caused a lot of confusion with regard to the usage of the term, which should always be contextualized within the respective examined epoch in order to “grasp” its intended “spirit”.
This research paper aims at examining and defining the early twentieth century Surrealist Movement more closely, which has been described in the Manifeste du surréalisme in 1924 by ANDRÉ BRETON, who seems to be widely acknowledged as the father of Surrealism. After a brief theoretical section outlining a short historical chronology of Surrealism and commenting on BRETON’s influence on the Surrealist Movement in 20th Century France, chapter 3 will present an analysis of Nadja (1928), one of BRETON’s most important surrealist novels forming the “climax of the literary movement of Surrealism in France” (REENTS 2009: 31). The analysis will be carried out from a predominantly photographic angle to examine how photography relates to the concept of the surreal and how it helps define Surrealism in BRETON’s time.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 A Definition of Surrealism and Breton’s influence on the Surrealist Movement
3 The relations between Nadja, Photography and Surrealism
3.1 Breton’s photos
3.2 Nadja’s drawings
4 Categorizing Nadja: Literary Genre and the evidentiary value of photography
5 Conclusion
Objectives and Core Topics
This research paper aims to define the early 20th-century Surrealist movement by analyzing André Breton's novel Nadja (1928). It investigates how the integration of photography and Nadja's drawings within the narrative constructs a surreal effect and explores the genre classification of the work as autofiction.
- The historical definition and development of Surrealism, with a focus on André Breton's influence.
- The function and "emptiness" of photography within the textual context of Nadja.
- The symbolic and enigmatic nature of Nadja’s drawings and their relation to the unconscious.
- The analysis of Nadja as a prime example of autofiction, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 Breton’s photos
As mentioned, an analytic discussion of BRETON’s photos from a surrealist perspective in Nadja only seems to make sense within the embedded textual context of the author’s novel. Many pictures seem to accompany and support temporary flashback moments of BRETON, which the author, according to BATE (2003: 88), more or less randomly describes “stumbl[ing] from scene to scene with ‘chance encounters’ structuring his path.” BATE concludes from this observation that “memory and its ‘chance’ return is […] what Freud dubbed the ‘return of the repressed’, one of the fundamental conditions for the uncanny to emerge” (BATE 2003: 88). Subject of the introductory passage of Breton’s novel are not photos but a detailed investigation of the author’s famous question “Qui suis-je?” (BRETON 1998: 11), which raises a fundamental problematic understanding of identity, an uncertainty on which BRETON comments with the assumption that what matters is the question “whom he haunts”: “en effet pourquoi tout ne reviendrait-il pas à savoir qui je « hante »?” (BRETON 1998: 11) As BATE cites BRETON, “the haunting other in the self […] is about ‘learning a mere fraction of what I have forgotten’” (BATE 2003: 88).
It seems tragically ironic that while BRETON tries to find a logical answer to his question, he develops a complex, confused and uncertain mind-set about his personality and perception: « Il se peut […] que je sois condamné à revenir sur mes pas tout en croyant que j’explore, à essayer de connaître ce que je devrais fort bien reconnaître, à apprendre une faible partie de ce que j’ai oublié. » (BRETON 1998: 12). According to this description, the author assumes that he may be condemned to restart where he has finished, to explore and to recognize what he should be able to recognize in order to become aware of a little part of what he had forgotten. Starting with efforts of reasoning and ending up in a pointless vicious circle of self-reflection, BRETON seems to demonstrate his partly rational and partly intuitive way of thinking already in this first passage of Nadja, evoking the impression that traces of both the “intuitive” and “reasoning” epoch considered by BATE have influenced his writing process in the novel.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter outlines the difficulty of defining Surrealism historically and introduces the focus on André Breton's Nadja, setting the methodological approach of examining the novel's photos and drawings.
2 A Definition of Surrealism and Breton’s influence on the Surrealist Movement: This chapter contextualizes the Surrealist movement historically, detailing Breton’s manifesto and the shift between the intuitive and reasoning epochs of Surrealism.
3 The relations between Nadja, Photography and Surrealism: This chapter analyzes how Breton’s photographs and Nadja’s drawings serve as visual material that challenges the reader and reinforces the surreal character of the narrative.
4 Categorizing Nadja: Literary Genre and the evidentiary value of photography: This chapter evaluates the documentary reliability of the images in the book and argues for classifying Nadja as a work of autofiction.
5 Conclusion: This chapter synthesizes the main findings, confirming that the combination of photography and drawings creates a surreal experience that transcends mere factual documentation.
Keywords
Surrealism, André Breton, Nadja, Photography, Drawings, Autofiction, Unconscious, Psychic Automatism, Emptiness, Signifier, Signified, Mimesis, Enigma, Identity, Memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary subject of this research paper?
The paper examines André Breton’s surrealist novel Nadja, focusing specifically on the relationship between the text and the visual elements, such as photographs and drawings, included within it.
What are the core thematic fields covered?
The work explores Surrealist theory, the role of photography as an evidentiary device, the psychological impact of Nadja’s drawings, and the literary classification of the novel.
What is the central research question?
The paper aims to define the "surreal" in Breton’s era and asks how photography and drawings function within the novel to create a surreal effect, ultimately questioning the genre of the work.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, drawing on established Surrealist scholarship and theories of photographic meaning—specifically the categories of Mimesis, Prophotographic, and Enigmatic functions as defined by David Bate.
What is addressed in the main body of the paper?
The main body investigates the historical context of Surrealism, analyzes specific photographs used in the novel, interprets Nadja’s enigmatic drawings, and assesses the novel's evidentiary claims.
Which keywords define this study?
The study is characterized by terms such as Surrealism, Autofiction, Psychic Automatism, Photography, and the Enigmatic, reflecting the intersection of visual and textual analysis.
How does the author define the function of the photographs in Nadja?
The author suggests that rather than documenting reality, the photographs create an "emptiness" that highlights the gap between the visual evidence and the narrated story, thereby deepening the surreal quality of the book.
Why does the paper classify Nadja as "autofiction"?
The paper argues that because Breton uses factual dates and autobiographical elements alongside deeply surreal and dream-like imagery, the novel occupies a hybrid space between autobiography and fiction, best described as autofiction.
- Quote paper
- Viktor Kocsis (Author), 2013, Defining Surrealism: Relations between Nadja, Photography and the Surrealist Movement, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/230309
