Surrealism and the Gothic: Castles of the Interior
- Submitting institution
-
The University of Westminster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- q18w9
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781409432746
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- August
- Year of publication
- 2017
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This is the first book-length analysis of the complex relationship between surrealism and the various fields of gothic literature and associated visual forms. Assuming a broad view that embraces both specific themes derived from gothic literature (the castle, accursed outsider, the occult, etc.) as well as associated literary and visual tropes (including dreams, chance and mediumism), Surrealism and the Gothic argues the centrality of gothic themes from the very origins of the movement and through to the less explored works of postwar surrealism.
The book provides a coherent analysis that both expands our understanding of the role of the gothic in the construction and subsequent development of surrealism, and of the inter-relationship of the various ‘gothic’ themes encountered in both surrealist writing and visual artworks. More broadly, the book also makes a significant new contribution to the expanding field of gothic studies, as for example in its reading of Artaud as ‘accursed outsider’. Moreover, the book extends the focus of gothic studies more from the field of literary to visual analysis, drawing on examples from film, photography and visual art, while embracing both 'high' and popular culture.
Surrealism and the Gothic is based on extensive research carried out both in Paris and London in collections that include those of the Bibliothèque nationale, the Salpêtrière Hospital, the Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, the British Library and the Hyman Kreitman Research Centre. Several of the book’s chapters benefitted from being first presented as conference papers at international conferences on surrealism held at West Dean and at the Association of Art Historians annual conference. The initial draft was also further enhanced through a rigorous process of peer review and the book draws on a number of texts that have never been translated into English, using the author's own translations.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
