During the first half of the 20th century, several members of the Western surrealist movement traveled to Mexico with the intention of experiencing Mexican culture and gaining knowledge about the rituals and traditions of the Mexican indigenous population. They sought life experiences that could influence and confirm the surrealist’s ideological convictions. They wanted to internationalize their artistic movement by including successful Mexican artists. The ideology of Western surrealism connects ideas and practices from the human subconscious to situations of reality, where the subconscious is portrayed as a pure form of truth. The perception of reality positions it as the opposite of the dream. The dreamlike, irrational aspects depicted in the human subconscious become, according to logic, another version of reality and truth. The surrealist ideology identified with Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, which positions and portrays women in traditional gender roles in the history of arts, where femininity and the woman are seen as biased to male creativity. In works produced by male surrealists, there is an overrepresentation of sexualizing, idealizing and projecting erotic desires onto the female body.  This thesis aims to investigate how the artists Remedios Varo and Dorothea Tanning, who themselves identified with the surrealist movement, relate to the construction of femininity and the role of women within surrealism and society. The analysis is based on a selection of reproduced works by Remedios Varo and Dorothea Tanning where themes of marriage, motherhood and sexuality is explored. These three themes serve as points of reference for a feminist theoretical framework in a visual analysis. The results of the analysis serve as a starting point for a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences that arise between the visual languages of the artists from a transnational perspective. By examining the relationship between the Western surrealist movement and Mexico's art and cultural scene during the first half of the 20th century, the movement's social and political ideas are discussed in relation to Mexico's national and cultural traditions, with the intention of providing insight into the role of women in surrealism and society.  The result of the analysis indicates that Varo and Tanning oppose the idea of how surrealism portrayed femininity. Instead, they created an independent idea of femininity and identity in relation to surrealism's ideology of the subconscious, mystical, and dreamlike. This means that the representation of femininity in the works serves as a statement against surrealism's idea of the female artist, by emphasizing their artistic ideas and visual language. The analysis provides an understanding of how hybrid identities guide navigation in relation to multiple cultural identities, artistic practices, and challenge assumptions about nationality, gender roles, and artistic cultural belonging. From a theoretical perspective of transnational feminism, the results of the analysis are discussed in terms of how cultural hegemony and postcolonial factors affect cross-cultural artistic encounters and how the rolls of gender and female artists are shaped by patriarchal structures that transcend national borders.

Die surrealistische Idee hatte einen starken Einfluss auf die Begründer der Négritude-Bewegung Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor und Léon-Gontran Damas. Diese Beziehung ist vielfach untersucht worden. Weitgehend unberücksichtigt ist bisher die jüngere Generation afrikanischer Schiftsteller geblieben. In dieser Studie wird daher besonders exemplarisch Dambudzo Marechera behandelt, dessen Werk noch nicht unter surrealistischen Aspekten untersucht wurde. Es geht darum, die Formen der literarischen Avantgarde in Afrika südlich der Sahara in ihren surrealistischen Prägungen anhand der Poetik und Lyrik des postkolonialen simbabwischen Schriftstellers Marechera zu analysieren. Es wird das Verhältnis zwischen dem europäischen Surrealismus und den afrikanischen Literaten, insbesondere der späteren Generation untersucht und die Art der Rezeption analysiert. Der Surrealismus ist eine bedeutende Tendenz in der afrikanischen Literatur, die sich unmittelbar auf die postkolonialen Realitäten bezieht und verdient es daher, in weit stärkerem Maße als bisher, beachtet zu werden. / The surrealistic idea has surely had a great influence on the founders of the Négritude-Movement. We are able to find it in the works and poetics of Césaire, Senghor and Damas, and especially in the surrealistically orientated review Tropiques as well as in the critical reception of the African literature. The first alliance of the representatives of the first generation of African poets with Surrealism is due to some of their shared objectives such as the questioning of the colonial system, the critic of colonialism and the recovery and revalorization of the African cultural heritage. The first African poets like Senghor, Césaire and Damas tried to incorporate and apply the surrealistic program to their proper context in order to achieve their own targets, such as: poetically, like Rimbaud declared, to change life and politically, like Marx stated, to change the world. The relationship between Surrealism and African literature presents the main subject of this paper. The dissertation treats particularly authors, who have not yet been examined from a surrealistic point of view. Concerning this thesis, Dambudzo Marechera is regarded above all as an exemplary representative for new literary avant-garde writing from Africa. The area of research for this study is limited most notably on forms of literary Avant-gardes in Africa south of the Sahara and most of all on surrealistic forms. This will be examined by the means of artistic conceptions and philosophy as well as poetic extracts of the postcolonial Zimbabwean writer, which will demonstrate the tendencies of a new trend of writing. The dissertation examines the relationship between European Surrealism and African poetry stemmed from the first and later generations of African writers through Césaire and Marechera. Additionally, it presents a pleadge for pushing the boundaries of research in the field of Surrealisms of African literature and awakening the interest for more research concerning the topic of this paper.

The first part of the diploma thesis is focused on the history and activity of the literary and visually artistic Group Ra, especially in the years 19361948. The artistic output of Ra comes out of Surrealism and is notably influenced by it; however, later Ra creates its own style following Surrealism and at the same time going beyond it. This part devotes to the signs of Surrealism, similarities and differences between Ra and the previous generation, contacts of the Younger Surrealists and also displays the poetics of the group members and their works. The second half of the thesis is concentrated on one of the Younger Surrealists, on Ludvík Kundera and his various works and specific expression with which enriches the way how Ra reflects and depicts the world. The dissertation thus presents not only a group creating art during the German occupation and war, but also exposes the contribution of the Group Ra and Ludvík Kundera to the artistic avant-garde.

This Bachelor’s Thesis introduces a previously unexplored visual artist to the field of Art history: Renata Wrede. Born in 1923 and active until her death in 1998, Renata Wrede produced a varied and colorful corpusof paintings, lithographies, drawings, sculptures, textile designs and pottery, most–but not all -of which is in the possession of her family. Herrigorous artistic training, deep engagement with her other passion –horses –and personal struggles for independence combined to create a varied style with anthropomorphizing images of -among many motifs-horses. Four of these images, taken from different periods of her life as an artist -are analyzed in this thesis paper. The focus on the analysis of the four works is the role of the horses in the picture: What do they do? How do they contribute to the composition? Why are they there? With the help of Renata Wrede’s autobiographical three books, Mitt romerska lejon (My Roman Lion), Juvelskrinet (The Jewelry Box) and Ior och hästarna (Ior and the Horses), the pictures are analyzed from the information provided by the writer and artist herself. The appendix includes a collection of Renata Wrede’s works (incomplete, but extensive) put together by the author of this thesis.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem como objeto central de estudo a poesia produzida no âmbito do surrealismo português (1949-1953), com ênfase na busca por uma sensibilidade específica que identifica uma poética estruturada e realizada no interior do projeto surrealista em Portugal. Em um breve primeiro momento, o trabalho se volta para a análise do contexto histórico de surgimento e desenvolvimento do movimento. A seguir, privilegia-se a oposição entre surrealismo e racionalismo e as suas implicações estéticas, sociais e políticas. Posteriormente apresenta-se um estudo das imagens na poesia surrealista de modo geral, a fim de estabelecer paradigmas teóricos dessa imagética, em conjunto com as características constituintes do surrealismo português. Como desdobramento, faz-se o estudo das imagens produzidas a partir da análise de inúmeros poemas e de um manifesto. Além de Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos, outros poetas com participação ativa no movimento são trazidos para as elaborações analíticas apresentadas. A hipótese principal é a de que a produção de imagens, como produção de pensamento, adquire grande centralidade na produção da uma sensibilidade artística específica, denominada surrealista. / [en] This dissertation has as its central object of study the poetry produced within the scope of Portuguese surrealism (1949-1953), with an emphasis on the search for a specific sensitivity that identifies a poetics structured and carried out within the surrealist project in Portugal. In a brief first moment, the work turns to the analysis of the historical context of the movement s emergence and development. Next, the opposition between surrealism and rationalism and its aesthetic, social and political implications are privileged. Subsequently, a study of images in surrealist poetry is presented in general, in order to establish theoretical paradigms of this imagery, together with the constituent characteristics of Portuguese surrealism. As an unfolding, the study of images produced from the analysis of countless poems and a manifesto is made. In addition to Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos, other poets with active participation at the movement are brought to the analytical elaborations presented. The main hypothesis is that the production of images, as a production of thought, acquires great centrality in the production of a specific artistic sensitivity, called surrealist.

The dissertation for my PhD is a composite novel called We Are Everyone You Know. The novel is set in a small town that is neither rural nor suburban, which, like the characters, defies classification. The cast rotates. Main characters become supporting characters in subsequent chapters and vice versa. I employ this strategy so the reader is able to see each character as an individual, that even those who seem to be in the background are living complex lives. The novel explores such themes as poverty, gentrification, the loss of innocence caused by a corrupt world, and the inability of people to realize their identities when the promises of youth turn out to be lies. Each chapter or story is told from either a different point of view or in a different style or genre. While the novel as a whole is grounded around a family and group of friends in a small town, the pieces of the story range in form from simple realism, to modernism, to post-modernism, to surrealism, to meta-fiction. I experiment with genres ranging from crime drama, to disaster survival, to sports comedy, to kung-fu epic, and more. Interspersed between the genre pieces are realist stories of a new lost generation—thirty-somethings who are stuck in permanent adolescence, who work at soul-crushing jobs, and who find neither the shining future that was promised to them in their youth nor the comfortable mediocrity of their parents’ lives. For this project I have been particularly inspired by the works of Louise Erdrich, James Joyce, and Jennifer Egan.

Résumé: Ce mémoire consiste en une étude du récit de rêve chez deux auteurs qui ont fait partie du mouvement surréaliste dans leur jeunesse littéraire : Michel Leiris et Raymond Queneau. Dans ce travail, on tente d’une part de décrire la poétique du rêve chez Leiris et Queneau, par diverses analyses qui empruntent surtout à la narratologie et à la linguistique textuelle. D’autre part, nous mesurons la part d’influence du surréalisme dans la conception du rêve de chacun des deux auteurs. Le premier chapitre présente la conception surréaliste du rêve, plus particulièrement celle d’André Breton, telle qu’elle est exposée dans le premier Manifeste du surréalisme et dans les Vases communicants. Cette synthèse est suivie de l’analyse de quelques récits de rêve de Breton issus du recueil Clair de terre, et du périodique la Révolution surréaliste. Les deuxième et troisième chapitres abordent l’écriture du rêve chez Leiris et Queneau. On étudie d’abord les récits de rêve écrits alors que ces auteurs appartenaient au mouvement surréaliste (1924-1929). Ces textes se trouvent dans leurs journaux intimes et dans la revue la Révolution surréaliste. Sont ensuite étudiées certaines œuvres écrites après la période surréaliste qui contiennent des récits de rêve ou qui exploitent le rêve comme structure narrative. Par ces analyses, ce mémoire tente de montrer la contribution du travail sur le rêve à l’élaboration de la poétique personnelle des auteurs Leiris et Queneau. Mots clefs : récit de rêve, Michel Leiris, Raymond Queneau, surréalisme, littérature française. / Abstract: This memoir consists in a study of dream narratives made by two authors who belonged to the surrealist movement in their youth : Michel Leiris and Raymond Queneau. For one, we will describe the dream poetics by Leiris and Queneau, with different analyses on narrative styles and textual linguistics. Secondly, we will determine how much the surrealism influenced each author in his conception of the dream. The first chapter presents the surrealist conception of the dream, particularly with André Breton, as detailed in the first Manifeste du Surréalisme and in Les Vases Communicants. This synthesis is followed by the analysis of some dream narratives by Breton from Clair de Terre and from La Révolution Surréaliste. The second and third chapters are devoted to Leiris and Queneau’s writing of dreams. We will first study their dream narratives as they were part of the surrealist movement (1924-1929). These texts are found in their personal journals and in the publication La Révolution Surréaliste. After, we go through and compare some texts written after the surrealist period that contain dream narratives or use the dream as a narrative structure. With these analyses, this memoir tries to demonstrate the contribution of the dreams and the elaboration of the poetics styles of Leiris and Queneau. Key words : dream narrative, Michel Leiris, Raymond Queneau, surrealism, french litterature.

Cute As A Button explores powerlessness, vulnerability, illness and addiction all wrapped up in tender buttons and a cute, cuddly creature. Using animation, sculpture, sound and an intimate space, I surround the viewer in a saccharine nightmare, one that references the dark underbelly of the cute and the sweet. The visual and aural elements are representative of the psychological and emotional states of powerlessness, which are overcome by the act of making and exploring a medium over which I can have complete control.

Title of the thesis: Poetics of Jacques Prévert's work of art and the exploitation of his poetry in a French language education. Keywords: poetics, French poetry, French chanson, poetic realism, surrealism, motivation Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to intercept and denote an artistic legacy in Jacques Prévert's work of art which has an overtime value and is capable with its themes of everyday life to also address the contemporary generations. The magic of Prévert's genius consists in his simple language that is spoken by common men, all the people use this language and thus, they could understand it well. A poet intensifies his legacy by series of examples and illustrations of everyday life that make his works accessible for everyone. In a thesis, we have primarily paid attention to the poetics of his large artistic creation by pointing on the particularity of his poetic language, the simplicity and accessibility of his work. Through Prévert's poetry and chanson, we have tried to present French language to teenage students in an inventive and creative way not only as a language itself, but also as a cultural heritage of the country. We elaborated pedagogical sheets in a practical part of a thesis aimed to serve as a methodological resource for the French language teachers.

Cette thèse est une étude du mouvement Cobra à travers les œuvres collectives, une de ses composantes caractéristiques. Il s’agit tout d’abord de comprendre le mouvement, ses origines et influences, ainsi que sa visée d’un art libre, ouvert, expérimental, partie prenante de la vie. Dans un contexte social d’après-guerre, souvent politisé, Cobra défend l’action collective, définie notamment dans les notions d’antispécialisme et d’interspécialisme. Il convient de mettre en exergue les origines de cette pratique, et saisir les divers aspects qu’elle arbore, notamment au travers de revues, d’expositions ou de créations partagées. Le poète Christian Dotremont, animateur et âme de Cobra, favorise le travail de collaboration et contribue à son développement en stimulant les rencontres artistiques. Il se fait le passeur et le permanent « agitateur » de cette notion. Les peintures-mots qu’il crée avec d’autres artistes participent à sa réflexion majeure sur l’écriture et la peinture. Ce lien interpelle quelques artistes belges comme Pierre Alechinsky, mais il passionne Christian Dotremont qui ne cesse de multiplier les expériences à ce propos, pour aboutir à ce qu’il nomme les logogrammes, remarquable fusion de la peinture et de la poésie, et aboutissement de toute une vie de recherche. Ce travail est structuré en trois points. Le premier établit une étude du contexte artistique et social des années précédent Cobra puis la mise en place du groupe. Le second aborde les années d’intense activité « officielle » du groupe, au service du collectif. Enfin, le troisième propose de suivre l’évolution post-Cobra des œuvres collectives et des recherches sur l’écriture et la peinture. / This thesis is a study of the Cobra movement through one of its characteristic components: the collective works. First of all it's about understanding the movement, its origins (three countries), its influences and its purpose of a free art, open, experimental, involvement with life. In a social after-war context, often politicized, Cobra defends collective action, notably defined in concepts of anti-specialism and inter-specialism. We should therefore underline the origins of this practice and undestand different aspects that it shows, in particular through publications, exhibitions or shared creations. The poet Christian Dotremont, leader and soul of Cobra, promotes cooperative work by collaboration and contributes to its development by stimulating artistic meetings. He is the purveyor and permanent "agitator" of this concept. The words-paintings that he creates with other artists, take part of his major thinking about writing and painting. This link interpellates a few Belgian artists like Pierre Alechinsky, but it fascinates Christian Dotremont who keeps experimenting on it, in order to reach what he calls the logograms, a remarkable fusion of painting and poetry, and a culmination of a life-time of research.This work is structured in three parts. The first one draws a study of the artistic and social context of the years preceding Cobra and the setting up of the group. The second one talks about years of intense "official" activity of the group serving collective way of work. Finally, the third one offers to follow the post-Cobra evolution of collective works and researches about writing and painting.