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76508-01 - Seminar: Beyond Breton: Surrealism in Britain and the Anglophone World (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Thomas Manson (thomas.manson@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | André Breton’s first "Manifesto of Surrealism" (1924) initiated a radical project of re-enchantment. Through its visionary concoction of Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxist politics – realized in bizarre prose and artworks, full of strange collage and uncanny found objects – surrealism would attempt to unleash a world of dreams upon an increasingly disenchanted and oppressive capitalist modernity. We all recognize works by the likes of René Magritte and Salvador Dalí: telephones transforming into lobsters, day turning into night, a pipe which is not a pipe. But as highlighted by recent retrospectives such as the Tate’s 2022 exhibition "Surrealism Beyond Borders", surrealism stretched far beyond its spiritual home in Paris, moving through cities as diverse as Cairo, Tokyo, and Dakar (where the first president of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, was himself a surrealist poet). In keeping with this general reappraisal, our course will explore an underappreciated tradition of surrealism in Britain and the wider Anglophone world. After tending to crucial British influences on French surrealism such as Matthew Lewis’s gothic novel "The Monk" (1796), we will return to Breton’s own era and the first London International Surrealist Exhibition held in 1936. The mysterious, alchemical writings and artworks of Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington will take us from Cornwall to Mexico, provoking discussions around occult magic, gender, and surrealism’s complex relationship to non-Western cultures. We will then finish in the US of the 1960s and 70s, where the Chicago Surrealist Group re-energized surrealism through a more explicitly anarchist politics and a heightened concern for issues surrounding race, as exemplified by the jazz-inflected ‘Afrosurrealist’ works of Ted Joans and Ishmael Reed. In the process, we will scrutinize surrealism and its literary and artistic methods alongside an assortment of theoretical approaches. But importantly, we will treat surrealism not solely as an artistic movement, but rather as a daring, deeply political endeavour to live differently. |
| Learning objectives | Students will gain an understanding of key critical and methodological approaches to surrealism (with a particular emphasis on theoretical work around psychoanalysis and ‘Gothic Marxism’), refining their analytical skills as well as their ability to apply theory and wider-historical sources to the texts in question. |
| Bibliography | Please purchase the following texts: - Matthew Lewis. “The Monk”. - Ithell Colquhoun. “Goose of Hermogenes”. - Leonora Carrington. “The Hearing Trumpet”. - Ishmael Reed. “Mumbo Jumbo”. All other texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Comments | Given the artistic breadth of the surrealist movement, this course will take an interdisciplinary approach, considering the works of artists and filmmakers alongside our chosen texts. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This seminar is for BA students who have completed all introductory courses including the proseminar papers. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 15.09.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 22.09.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 29.09.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 06.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 13.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 20.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 27.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 03.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 10.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 17.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 24.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 01.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 08.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 15.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation and written assignment. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |