Saturday, September 22, 2007

Taking Refuge in Surrealism!

Lately I have been experiencing much nostalgia, uncertainty and disorientation. These post-college days are seriously being hard on me. The hard thing about it is that there is nothing wrong with my life that I can blame, either. The problem or rather the issue is simple: It is now the time in my life when I determine the general direction of my life. I am now old enough to be pragmatic. As I remain idealistic about my wishes, it has become hard for me to decide about different routes that I could take. Additionally, I am very perplexed by my memories of growing up in Iran, of the first few months of immigration, of my precious time at Oberlin and many other puzzle-like pieces of my past. During this time when I feel especially pressured by the concept of time and space, I have begun to once again review the articles and novels that I have collected from my Surrealism classes in Oberlin. I though I should share these few lines with you, for now. I am also intending to write some things about my readings in regards to Surrealism.

"I demand that he would still refuses, for instance, to see a horse galloping on a tomato should be looked upon as a cretin. A tomato is also a child's balloon--Surrealism, I repeat, having suppressed the word "like."
- Andre Breton, What is Surrealism

" We are still living under the reign of logic: this, of course, is what I have been driving at. But in this day and age logical methods are applicable only to solving problems of secondary interest. The absolute rationalism that is still in vogue allows us to consider only facts relating directly to our experience. Logical ends, on the contrary, escape us. It is pointless to add that experience itself has found itself increasingly circumstance. Logical ends, on the contrary, escape us. It paces back and forth in a cage from which it is more and more difficult to make it emerge. It too leans for support on what is most immediately expedient, and it is protected by sentinels of common sense."
-Andre Breton, the First Manifesto of Surrealism(1924)

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