Book Description
In Making History, Kirsten Strom investigates the Surrealists' radical critique of history and historical authorship.
Making History: Surrealism and the Invention of a Political Culture FROM THE PUBLISHER
While it is common knowledge in Surrealist studies that the Surrealists appropriated historical figures such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo and the Marquis de Sade as "proto-Surrealist," the significance of this aspect of the Surrealist project has rarely been addressed. Theorizing Surrealism as a "political culture," Making History brings to light the politicized nature of history writing by examining the Surrealists' construction of an "anti-canon," one which would critique and expose the biases of the conventional Western canon, while simultaneously buttressing the Surrealists' attempt to create a coherent, yet subversive alternative sub-culture. Indeed Making History will suggest that the Surrealists performatively revealed that history can be not only a form of oppression, but a form of protest as well.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Strom (modern and contemporary art and theory, Grand Valley State U.) identifies and describes two validation strategies used by the Surrealists in Paris during and after World War I: the appropriation of historical figures, and the self-conscious construction of a Surrealist group identity based on the principles of solidarity and faith in a common cause. She considers the historical context of the movement's rise, and its views of history and trans-historicity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Art & Photography
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