Comments on: How to Write Surrealism http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/ With daily writing exercises, tips and techniques, and thoughts on the writing life, Writerly Life is for the writer in all of us. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:05:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: HowDidYouGetThere http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/comment-page-1/#comment-1373 HowDidYouGetThere Thu, 27 May 2010 16:46:03 +0000 http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/#comment-1373 "What is frightening about the story is the possibility that this could happen to any of us. It’s real in its fear, and thus the rich opportunity for metaphor in this story feels accessible and relevant." That makes enormous sense! Very interesting piece, thanks, Kristi “What is frightening about the story is the possibility that this could happen to any of us. It’s real in its fear, and thus the rich opportunity for metaphor in this story feels accessible and relevant.”

That makes enormous sense! Very interesting piece, thanks, Kristi

]]> By: Paul Bassett Davies http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/comment-page-1/#comment-1372 Paul Bassett Davies Thu, 27 May 2010 16:30:16 +0000 http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/#comment-1372 Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte were both surrealist painters but Magritte's work is more disturbing. In Dali's vision, everything is distorted. The paintings are visually stunning but all the impact is achieved on the surface. In Magritte's work, everything is normal but one element is displaced, creating a sense of unease and dissonance. For me the best surrealist writing is like this. I'll always have a soft spot for William Burroughs, whose writing reminds me of Dali's painting, but his work evokes the distortion of reality rather than the subversion of it. I prefer work in which everything is real but something is out of place: something, however, that you can't quite put your finger on. The best surrealism is also very funny. If you don't know it, try a book called The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills. Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte were both surrealist painters but Magritte’s work is more disturbing. In Dali’s vision, everything is distorted. The paintings are visually stunning but all the impact is achieved on the surface. In Magritte’s work, everything is normal but one element is displaced, creating a sense of unease and dissonance. For me the best surrealist writing is like this. I’ll always have a soft spot for William Burroughs, whose writing reminds me of Dali’s painting, but his work evokes the distortion of reality rather than the subversion of it. I prefer work in which everything is real but something is out of place: something, however, that you can’t quite put your finger on. The best surrealism is also very funny. If you don’t know it, try a book called The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills.

]]> By: Jessie http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/comment-page-1/#comment-1371 Jessie Thu, 27 May 2010 16:09:29 +0000 http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/#comment-1371 I can't say I've read a lot of surrealism, but thought GOING BOVINE was a hilarious bit of surrealism. The places and characters all seemed real, but the things going on around them were totally whacked. I can’t say I’ve read a lot of surrealism, but thought GOING BOVINE was a hilarious bit of surrealism. The places and characters all seemed real, but the things going on around them were totally whacked.

]]> By: Mohamed Mughal http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Mohamed Mughal Thu, 06 May 2010 12:56:56 +0000 http://www.writerlylife.com/2010/05/how-to-write-surrealism/#comment-5 One of the best ways to learn how to write in a surrealist manner is to read surrealism that has worked for other writers. In Slaughterhouse 5, Vonnegut penned a celebration of the anti-hero, the story of an unwitting man who takes a winding, chronologically non-linear dash through the space/time continuum. Billy Pilgrim experiences combat in Europe during World War II while simultaneously experiencing life as a successful optometrist in Ilium, New York twenty years later. Complexity to complexity, in 1967, Billy is kidnapped by aliens and kept captive in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, naked and with a porn star for his cellmate. Did it work? Yes. The novel's a mixture of anti-war sentiments and social commentary, with themes and events that tease, humor, shock and entertain. In expanding the topical and structural boundaries of the American novel, Vonnegut effectively gave a new generation of writers permission to experiment. Surrealism works when it's anchored in compelling, instructive and relevant themes, when it's written with a larger point that the abstract beauty of surrealist prose. One of the best ways to learn how to write in a surrealist manner is to read surrealism that has worked for other writers. In Slaughterhouse 5, Vonnegut penned a celebration of the anti-hero, the story of an unwitting man who takes a winding, chronologically non-linear dash through the space/time continuum. Billy Pilgrim experiences combat in Europe during World War II while simultaneously experiencing life as a successful optometrist in Ilium, New York twenty years later. Complexity to complexity, in 1967, Billy is kidnapped by aliens and kept captive in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, naked and with a porn star for his cellmate. Did it work? Yes. The novel’s a mixture of anti-war sentiments and social commentary, with themes and events that tease, humor, shock and entertain. In expanding the topical and structural boundaries of the American novel, Vonnegut effectively gave a new generation of writers permission to experiment. Surrealism works when it’s anchored in compelling, instructive and relevant themes, when it’s written with a larger point that the abstract beauty of surrealist prose.

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