Some Thoughts on Surrealism/Absurdism
Historical surrealism was an optimistic political and artistic movement from the 1920s, featuring artists such as Jean Arp and Max Ernst, and writers such as Louis Aragon and Guillaume Apollinaire. It influenced the counter cultural movements of the 1960s, such as ecology, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, and the Beats, among many others. In the 1970s, in America, surrealism in poetry experienced a resurgence, under the influence of Jungian psychology, with the so-called deep image poets (Jerome Rothenberg, Robert Kelly, and others), as well as NY School poets and Language poets. Yet, surrealism is not limited to the Anglophone world. It has influenced the work of African, Asian, and Latin American poetry. Nor is it limited to male artists. There is a renewed interest in the magical paintings and fiction of the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Recent anthologies have highlighted the international scope of surrealism with anthologies such as Surrealist Women (edited by Penelope Rosemont), Black, Brown, & Beige Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora (edited by Franklin Rosemont and Robin D.G. Kelley), and Surrealism in Greece An Anthology (edited and translated by Nikos Stabakis). Surrealism is not only found in poetry, fiction, and visual art. There are surrealist film directors, such as David Lynch, Maya Deren, Jan Švankmajer, Alejandro Jodorowsky. In short, contemporary surrealism, although widely dispersed and without manifestos and party lines, is as strong as ever. While initially shocking and modern, surrealism reaches far back into our collective past, with folk tales, fairy tales, and myths. It is both new and old. Continuously renewing itself.
Absurdism is a kind of rebellion against the bureaucratic world. A wrestling with nihilism, under the influence of Existentialism. But, of course, that is not the only way to lay it out. Absurdism can also be incorporated into spiritual practice. Buddhism is existentialism without the angst, said Gil Fronsal, an American Buddhist teacher and scholar.
So here we are. In the 21st century. Faced with various apocalyptic scenarios (nuclear holocaust, climate change, the extinction of even more species including our own). Living under the absurd system of late capitalism. According to many scientists, we have already entered the sixth mass extinction phase (the last one was when the dinosaurs disappeared). With Mercurius we try to remind people that the apocalypse isn't some future event; for many extinct or soon-to-be extinct non-humans, it's already happened, it’s the here and now... The surreal-absurd part is that in the west we are so disconnected from nature that we can easily avoid confrontation with our own destructiveness, pretend as though nothing is happening
It is all overwhelming! And yet, coupled with direct action, Surrealist and Absurdist poets are a vital part of the struggle. The derangement of the so-called “natural” neo-liberal orders that suppress us. The art of the possible. The joys and hopes and possibilities. The free play of the imagination.
Every other Monday, I will present a contemporary absurdist/surrealist poet with a short selection of their work. Surrealism and absurdism, like the imagination, is a potent force. It must be claimed over and over against the forces that attempt to squash it. The only war is the war is the war against the imagination, said the poet Diane Di Prima.