“A stubborn refusal of the conditions of 20th Century 'reality', surrealism has denied intransigently and consistently that modern man can live without a sense of wonder at the world that was once embodied in myth. In approaching literature, it has… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
Surrealism, then, neither aims to subvert realism, as does the fantastic, nor does it try to transcend it. It looks for different means by… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“By giving words the latitude she does, (Marianne) Van Hirtum emphasizes their contagious qualities: they become almost like viruses, with which it is necessary to put oneself in harmony by sympathetic magic if one is not to be overwhelmed. ... What is essential is to become one with the sickness, that is, in the context of language as a whole,… — Michael Richardson Copy Share
“In this stillness that is at the same time movement, in this darkness that is at the same time light, change is found not in the realm of ideas but in the energizing desire that is realized through precipitation. Desire tends towards its own realization and change takes place when the desire for it shatters the bounds of the possible,… — Michael Richardson Copy Share
“Equally, the surrealists consider words as witnesses of life acting in a direct way in human affairs. To use words properly it was necessary to treat them with respect, for they were the intermediaries between oneself and the rest of creation. To abuse them was immediately to set oneself adrift from true being. Words need to be coaxed to reveal… — Michael Richardson Copy Share
“The fantastic is in complicity with the realist model, in the claims that realism makes to represent the true face of reality. It points to the gaps and inadequacies of realism, but does not question the legitimacy of its claims to represent reality. The concept of “suspension of disbelief', that beloved criterion of positivist criticism supposedly serving to establish the… — Michael Richardson Copy Share
“Surrealism also refuses the representation of reality: reality can only be; its existence proves its reality. Fiction thereby becomes impossible or is, by definition,… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“In our modern world, this elemental quality of storytelling is denied. We live today in a world in which everything has its place and… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“The real importance of automatism lay in the fact that it led to a different relation between the artist and the creative act. Where… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“A stubborn refusal of the conditions of 20th Century 'reality', surrealism has denied intransigently and consistently that modern man can live without a sense… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“The form of the Gothic novel also implicitly contested the claims of Realism to reflect the world directly by showing how artificial its structure… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“The shifting sands of the world... show how much the surrealists were drawn towards an interrogation of what reality actually is. Unlike fabulists of… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
“As Peret asserts, the value of such stories resides in the fact that they respond to direct social necessity but in a way that… — Michael Richardson Copy Share Image
