Surrealist Literature Lecture

The horrors of World War I led early leaders of the Dada movement to create an aesthetic that attacked the cultural mores and institutions of Europe. Following the Treaty of Versailles, Andre Breton took the idea one step further, experimenting with automatic, stream-of-consciousness writing and dream transcription in an effort to affect social change through total liberation of the imagination. While an even bigger war couldn't be stopped, Breton and the other Surrealist authors influenced generations of writers with their breakthroughs. In this installment of their Off the Wall lecture series, the Frist welcomes Dr. Lisa Weiss, assistant director of the W. T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies and lecturer in French at Vanderbilt, to discuss how Surrealist literature influenced—and was influenced by—Paris between the wars.
Thu., Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m., 2009