VICTOR HUGO and SURREALISM: PHANTOM DRAWINGS, AUTOMATISM, and the OCCULT by JILL ALLISON MILLER Under the Direction of Profes
VICTOR HUGO AND SURREALISM: PHANTOM DRAWINGS, AUTOMATISM, AND THE OCCULT by JILL ALLISON MILLER Under the Direction of Professor Evan Firestone ABSTRACT During Victor Hugo’s exile on the Channel island of Jersey, between 1853-1855 he and his family conducted almost two hundred séances in which they allegedly received messages and drawings from famous deceased personalities. Besides being a writer and poet, Hugo was also a prolific artist who experimented with automatist and experimental techniques to create thousands of images. Many Surrealist figures, including André Breton, Robert Desnos, André Masson, and Max Ernst, admired aspects of Hugo’s art and writing. Comparing Hugo’s experimental art, séance writings, and attitudes towards psychic material to the art and ideas of Breton and his circle opens up substantial new insights on Victor Hugo as a precursor to Surrealism and on the movement’s connection to the nineteenth century. INDEX WORDS: Victor Hugo, André Breton, André Masson, Robert Desnos, Valentine Hugo, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Surrealism, automatic writing, automatic drawing, spiritualism. VICTOR HUGO AND SURREALISM: PHANTOM DRAWINGS, AUTOMATISM, AND THE OCCULT by JILL ALLISON MILLER B.F.A., Brenau University, 2004 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2007 © 2007 Jill Allison Miller All Rights Reserved VICTOR HUGO AND SURREALISM: PHANTOM DRAWINGS, AUTOMATISM, AND THE OCCULT by JILL ALLISON MILLER Major Professor: Evan Firestone Committee: Alisa Luxenberg Janice Simon Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2007 DEDICATION To Robert Allen Miller (1950-2006) iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am sincerely grateful to my advisor, Professor Evan Firestone, for his guidance in researching, writing, and revising this thesis.
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