Surrealist book recommendation

[Anonymous No.16315538]

What surrealist books would you recommend, /lit/? I haven't read any surreal title besides The metamorphosis, so I'd like to read some more.

Doesn't need to be Kafka, I'm only looking for a similar dark-ish theme

[Anonymous No.16315554]

Dino Buzzati, forgot the name
Naked Lunch
Regonitions by Gaddis
Petersburg
Ada or Ador

[Anonymous No.16315597]

>>16315538
Surrealist with a capital S is a lot different than the adjective. Mostly a lot of automatic writing BS. Try "My Tired Father" by Gellu Naum for something decent in the movement.

[Anonymous No.16315627]

>>16315597
>Mostly a lot of automatic writing BS
Nah I'm not looking for some schizoid rambling, thanks
>My Tired Father
I'll check it out, thanks anon

[Anonymous No.16316038]

bump

[Anonymous No.16316089]

[Anonymous No.16316137]

>>16315538
Nadja by Andre Breton
Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon
Irene's Cunt by Louis Aragon
Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautremont
Arthur Rimbaud's poetry
The Breasts of Tiresias by Guillaume Apollinaire
Alcool by Guillaume Apollinaire
Calligrammes by Guillaume Apollinaire
The Tenant by Roland Topor

[Anonymous No.16316174]

What are some works of criticism on surrealist works? What are the lines of criticism and evaluation with surreal art? How do you determine if a surrealist work is good or bad when its purpose is to confound you and is bereft of the usual forms of meaning?

I find that a challenge for my personal enjoyment of surrealist art.

[Anonymous No.16316901]

At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
If on a Winters Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
and I'll also second Ada, or Ardor

[Anonymous No.16316914]

100 years of solitude my dude

[Anonymous No.16317066]

>>16316089
How does this compare to The Street of Crocodiles?

[Anonymous No.16317240]

>>16315538
>doesn't need to be kafka
Despite this, if you haven't read the trial, I seriously recommend it. My first blackpill on bureaucracy.

[Anonymous No.16317254]

>>16317240
I'll give it a try then

[Anonymous No.16317348]

>>16317240
Amerika is a criminally underrated Kafka book as well. He never actually visited america but something about the book just really captures the vertigo of living in a society that moves so quickly compared to "the old world." Reminds me of a fictional application of Tocquevilles writings on Americans endless toil for status and stability

[Anonymous No.16317401]

>>16315554
Dino Buzzati is one of the finest writers to come out of Italy. His shirt stories never overstay their welcome, and leave an indescribable feeling between paranoia and excitement. His novel the Tartar Steppe is one of the finest pieces of odd-literature out there.

[Anonymous No.16317661]

>>16316174
Asking the difficult questions here anon.
For criticism, I remember enjoying The Optical Unconscious by Rosalind Krauss and Walter Banjamins Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia. Surrealism depended heavily on the work of Freud and psychoanalysis and thus the unconscious and uncanny so a lot of it was evaluated along those lines. This last question is definitely pretty challenging and gets at a part of surrealism that is not often discussed or even acknowledged in pop culture: surrealism at its heart was political and ultimately a lifestyle. While at best its relationship with with the communist and anarchist parties in France at that time was tenuous (in part due to Breton and his, uh, quirks) surrealism's politics was intensely left wing. Sexual repression and liberation were central themes, along with the dysfunctional, the abject, chance, etc. In many ways surrealism was the inversion of the aesthetics the right wing movements of the period were cultivating. It was also intensely personal. There was this idea that you could access unconscious parts of yourself and a whole surrealist world by allowing the naturally occurring uncanny to take a hold of you and basically send you down a schizo rabbit hole. In fact, surrealists walked a fine line between fetishizing mentall illness and carrying on with their movement (read Nadja if you want an illustration of this). How does this relate to judging surrealist works of art? Again, for its practitioners, it was very much a lifestyle, and one that would not be pretty to outside observers. I think a lot of judging such a work has to do with authenticity on the part of the artist. There was this surrealist class of sculpture that was an amalgamation of found objects, for example, and what was important to the surrealists was the emotions, memories, dreams these objects inflicted upon the artist as they were out and about and discovered these objects in the world. Dali, for a counter example, was frequently criticized for faking it and according to some (I share this opinion) was ultimately responsible for selling it out to the Americans when he fled to the US and participated with the media there stripping it of all political aspects and turning it into self indulgent "LOL SO RANDOM" showmanship. Another thing to consider is that the movement seemed pretty cliquey (that would later split up into different factions) so a lot of the judgement at the time was in the environment of a social circle. I like to think of a "proper" surrealist piece as being a sort of intensely emotional and personal journal entry that is then stripped of anything legible, leaving the vague shapes, ghosts, and viscera left to speak for themselves. Anyway, that's just my take, it cannot possibly do justice to the movement and the various opinions in it let alone the opinions of the various critics and commentators who interacted with surrealism. Fun fact, it was originally intended to be a literary movement

[Anonymous No.16319552]

This

[Anonymous No.16320579]

>>16315538
This one is pure gold

[Anonymous No.16320636]

most (but not all) of Ligotti's work is absurd to some degree. His Teatro Grottesco collection of stories is pretty great, though I've only finished the first section so far.

[Anonymous No.16320637]

>>16317661
>Dali, for a counter example, was frequently criticized for faking it and according to some (I share this opinion) was ultimately responsible for selling it out to the Americans
Oh, you mean Avida Dollars? Anyway, good post

[Anonymous No.16320645]

i liked hard-boiled wonderland

[Anonymous No.16320686]

UBIK. Doesn’t get better than that

[Anonymous No.16322039]

>>16319552
I've read this. There are some interesting bits about Perla and the way it goes to shit, but it's not very well written. I was kind of disappointed since it was recommended as somewhat similar to Meyrink's writings.

[Anonymous No.16322056]

the melancholy of resistance or The Nose (Kafka liked Gogol I believe, also this is a really quick read)
>>16316089
good rec

[Anonymous No.16322084]

>>16320686
Not surrealist

[Anonymous No.16322108]

>>16315538
Julien Graq - The Opposing Shore

[Anonymous No.16322281]

>>16322084
Just because it's not written in France/Spain pre-1970s doesn't mean it's not surrealist. PKD's work is pretty fucking surreal in nature.

[Anonymous No.16322344]

Half the recs in the thread aren't surrealist. Fucking idiots. OP just look at the wiki for Surrealism and read the books that interest you

[Anonymous No.16322787]

>>16322084
How the fuck is it not surreal? The whole story is like a fever dream

[Anonymous No.16322895]

>>16322344
you can be make surrealism without being a part of the philosophical movement of surrealism
>the principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations

[Anonymous No.16323159]

>>16322039
Thats true i guess, but i still think its a cool book considering that Kubin was primarily a painter and not a writer, so poor writing is not surprising. I appreciate it mostly for the psychology symbolism.

[Anonymous No.16324142]

>>16315538

i hate /lit/ lists but this is fine actually

[Anonymous No.16324781]

>>16322344
I prefer someone recommending a couple surreal books they found appealing and why, rather than a list of +100 titles, with no context whatsoever

[Anonymous No.16324825]

>>16324142
I was going to recommend Boris Vian but Foam of the days is probably more representative, but okay

[Anonymous No.16326094]

>>16315538
Envy by Yuri Olesha

[Anonymous No.16326117]

>>16315538
When Europe Begins
If on a winters night a traveler
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
The Soft Machine

[Anonymous No.16326126]

>>16315538
A Wild Sheep Chase
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World

[Anonymous No.16326130]

>>16315538
Dance Dance Dance

[Anonymous No.16326403]

>>16317066
Just as good, if not better.

[Anonymous No.16326447]

>>16315538

Metamorphosis isn't surreal, its just fucking depressing and is written by a doomer... You want surreal? Read House of Leaves...

[Anonymous No.16326967]

ah yes, Kafka, the lackey of André Breton.

[Anonymous No.16326978]

>>16315538

[Anonymous No.16327874]

>>16326403
I hope it's better, I didn't like The Street of Crocodiles much. I watched the movie adaptation of the Sanatorium under the sign of the hourglass, I recall liking it a lot.

[Anonymous No.16328173]

>>16326978
Thanks

[Anonymous No.16328181]

>>16317240
>My first blackpill on bureaucracy.
Does one really need to be “blackpilled” on bureaucracy?

[Anonymous No.16328183]

Das abenteuerliche Herz by Jünger if you find a translation

[Anonymous No.16328214]

>>16317401
Have seen this novel reccomended by many people. Seems like a cult classic, I will surely have to read it.

[Anonymous No.16328314]

>>16324825
same book different translation of title...