1 COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, SPRING 2008 COLT 480 DADA SURREALISM T. AND THURS. 12:30—1:50 T.H.H 121 PROF. GLORA ORENSTEIN OFFICE: T.H.H 174 VOICE MAIL: 740—0100 E-MAIL:
[email protected] In this course we will explore the Dada and Surrealist Movements in the arts. We will focus on each movement’s aesthetic philosophy and stylistic and conceptual innovations as they manifested in a variety of artistic media: poetry, film, fiction, theatre, painting, manifestos, happenings, and contemporary Neo-Dada and Neo surrealist literary and visual creations. Concepts and forms such as The Marvelous, Automatic Writing, Objective Chance (synchronicity), Black Humor, the Found Object, The Dream Object, The Exquisite Corpse, The Surrealist Object, The Surrealist Image, The Surrealist Game, The Happpening, The Dream Narrative, Communicating Vessels, Paranoic Critical Creations, Frottage, Surrealist Collage, The One in The Other, Panic Theatre/Ephemeras, and many other artistic techniques will be elucidated as they articulate the “convulsive beauty” of Dada and Surrealist art and writing internationally. The women of Surrealism, their work in art and literature, will be a major focus of the course. There is one important aspect of the course that I would like to stress. Throughout the semester I would like you to search the web and establish an extensive file on either Dadists or Surrealists in a country of your choice. Print out a collection of information on contemporary dada or surrealist artists in your selected country or region, and be prepared to hand in this collection on the last day of class. It will take the form of a Class Presentation and it may be the Field Work component of your final research paper/project.