Surrealism and Women [Paperback]

Mary Ann Caws (Editor), Rudolf E. Kuenzli (Editor), Gwen Raaberg (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 1991

These sixteen illustrated essays present an important revision of surrealism by focusing on the works of women surrealists and their strategies to assert positions as creative subjects within a movement that regarded woman primarily as an object of masculine desire or fear.While the male surrealists attacked aspects of the bourgeois order, they reinforced the traditional patriarchal image of woman. Their emphasis on dreams, automatic writing, and the unconscious reveal some of the least inhibited masculine fantasies. The first resistance to the male surrealists' projection of the female figure arose in the writings and paintings of marginalized woman artists and writers associated with Surrealism. The essays in this collection explore the complexity of these women's works, which simultaneously employ and subvert the dominant discourse of male surrealists.Mary Ann Caws is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Rudolf Kuenzli is Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the International Dada Archive at the University of Iowa. Gwen Raaberg is Director of the Center for Women's Resources and Research at Western Michigan University.The Essays : What Do Little Girls Dream Of: The Insurgent Writing of Gis�le Prassinos. Finding What You Are Not Looking For. From D�jeuner en fourrure to Caroline: Meret Oppenheim's Chronicle of Surrealism. Speaking with Forked Tongues: "Male" Discourse in "Female" Surrealism? Androgyny: Interview with Meret Oppenheim. The Body Subversive: Corporeal Imagery in Carrington, Prassinos, and Mansour. Identity Crises: Joyce Mansour's Narratives. Joyce Mansour and Egyptian Mythology. In the Interim: The Constructivist Surrealism of Kay Sage. The Flight from Passion in Leonora Carrington's Literary Work. Beauty and/Is the Beast: Animal Symbology in the Work of Leonora Carrington, Remedio Varo, and Leonor Fini. Valentine, Andr�, Paul et les autres, or the Surrealization of Valentine Hugo. Refashioning the World to the Image of Female Desire: The Collages of Aube Ell�ou�t. Eileen Agar. Statement by Dorothea Tanning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gwen Raaberg is Director of the Center for Women's Resources and Research at Western Michigan University.

Rudolf Kuenzli is Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the International Dada Archive at the University of Iowa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; MIT Press ed edition (March 13, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262530988
• ISBN-13: 978-0262530989
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #690,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I like writing about all sorts of things, art and artists, poetry and poets, literatures of various sorts, and also about travel and cooking. And I love living in New York and Provence. My daughter created a great website for me: maryanncaws.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful introduction to the Topic., May 27, 2011

By 

T. Porges (Washington DC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surrealism and Women (Paperback)

When this book came out, I thought well, okay, but there would be better books in a while. That hasn't happened; there are more books, and more of the books by
surrealist women like Leonora Carrington (RIP) are now in print. But this is still a good, academically solid introduction to artists and writers who remain more obscure than they should be.
I am mostly inspired to write a POSITIVE review of this book, though, by the nasty cultist attack on it in the only other review Amazon has up on its site. It should not be possible for
pseudo-surrealist cultists to slime books anonymously, but hey, that's show business, isn't it?

8 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kuenzli is a liar, August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Surrealism and Women (Paperback)

This collection of essays is highly damaged by editor Rudolf Kuenzli's "Surrealism and Misogyny" which stands as one of the worst essays ever written on surrealism due to its outragous claims that mysteriously lack any citations! Kuenzli should be writing for the National Enquirer. For people who are honestly interested in the proposed topic (Surrealism and Women) I would much rather direct your attention towards Penelope Rosemont's anthology, where the women speek for themselves.