Art, Surrealism, and the Grotesque Essay -- Exploratory Essays Researc

The term grotesque in art and literature, commonly refersto the juxtaposition of extreme contrasts such(prenominal) as horror andhumor, or beauty and monstrosity, or desire and revulsion. Onefunction of this juxtaposition of the rational and the irrationalis to subdue or normalize the unknown, and thereby control it. The simultaneity of mutually exclusive emotional states, and thediscomfort it might cause, inspires a Freudian analytic criticalapproach because of its focus on unconditional repressed desiresthrough therapeutic rationality. There are volumes of Freudian art criticism, which typicallybegin by calling attention to manifestations, in some incline ofart, of the darkest desires of the id. Perhaps in no field ofart criticism does Freuds name appear more frequently than insurrealism, and for various reasons, the grotesque figures very potently in that art movement. From the association ofsurrealist art and Freud, we can derive a cursory understandingof the grot esque in this breed of Modernist art the grotesqueappears as an image, the content of which might traditionally berepressed, but instead, it is expressed within the controlledconfines of a work of art. The psychoanalytic critic will focuson the simultaneous attraction to and repulsion from the dream-like imagery on the surrealist canvas. Yet, this does notconsider the surrealist notion of art as a liberation of thesubconscious, nor does such compendium adequately incorporate thesurrealist goal of political revolution. Instead, it reducessurrealist art criticism to the interpretation of dreams. ThisFreudian view becomes too limiting of our understanding ofsurrealism, the grotesque, and perhaps even of ourselves... ...d place of Dream Interpretation. in Freud Therapy and Technique. ed. Philip Rieff. freshly York Collier Press, 1963. pp. 205-235. Heidegger, Martin. What is Metaphysics? in Basic Writings, ed. David Farrell Krell. New York Harper & Row, 1977.Plank, W illiam. Sartre and Surrealism. Ann Arbor Univeristy of Michigan Research Press, 1972.Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. trans. Lloyd Alexander. New York New Directions, 1964.------- The Psychology of Imagination. trans. Bernard Frechtman. New York Washington Square Press, 1966.------- The Writings of Jean-Paul Sartre A Bibliographic Life Chicago Northwestern University Press. Interview with Claudine Chonez in Marianne, Dec. 7, 1938.------- What is Literature? and Other Essays. Trans. Steven Ungar. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1988.