The Magnetic Fields is famous as the first sustained attempt at Surrealist automatic writing—a technique Breton derived from Freudian free associationThe Magnetic Fields is famous as the first sustained attempt at Surrealist automatic writing—a technique Breton derived from Freudian free association. The idea was to shut off the mind's internal critic and open a channel to the unconscious. The surrealist would function like an occult medium channeling messages from the deep caverns of the self:
"...let us not lose sight of the fact that the idea of surrealism aims quite simply at the total recovery of our psychic force by a means which is nothing other than the dizzying descent into ourselves, the systematic illumination of hidden places and the progressive darkening of other places, the perpetual excursion into the midst of forbidden territory..."
Sounds interesting! Breton expressed great hopes for it. He called the Magnetic Fields:
"...indisputably the first surrealist (and in no sense dada) work, since it is the fruit of the first systematic use of automatic writing... Our situation was that of anyone who has just excavated a vein of precious metal."
Interest is heightened by the brazen amorality of Breton's surrealism. A key requirement of surrealism was rejection of conscience, morality, the superego, etc. This is evident in Breton's definition of surrealism in the First Manifesto of Surrealism:
SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express—verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner—the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
Amorality also shows up in Breton's reverence for Les Chants de Maldoror, with its proto-serial-killer celebration of child rape, child murder, torture for pleasure, and so forth.
Likewise, we have Breton's famous (and surprisingly post-modern) characterization of surrealism from 1930:
The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd. Anyone who, at least once in his life, has not dreamed of thus putting an end to the petty system of debasement and cretinization in effect has a well-defined place in that crowd, with his belly at barrel level.
All in all, surrealist automatic writing sounds like a journey to the center of the id. Yet the Magnetic Fields is incredibly boring! Breton's effete upper-class French lifestyle is on display throughout: the beach, cafes, dance parties, mistresses, "the best hotels," books, museums. Nothing interesting happens, no taboos are violated—aside from some mildly amusing verbal juxtapositions. A sample:
A perfect odour bathed the shadow and a thousand little scents ran up and down. They were thick circles, ravaged rags. Millimetres away, the endless adventures of microbes were perceptible. Style of cleansed cries and tamed visions. The brief puffs of smoke fell furiously and in disorder. Only the wind could absorb this living peat, these paralysed contrivances. The wild races, the bridge of delays, the instantaneous brutalizations were found to be joined together again and mixed with the blue sands of modernized pleasures, with sensational sacrifices, with the fleet flock of elect narcotics. There were the serious songs of sickly street alters, the prayers of merchants, the afflictions of swine, the eternal agonies of librarians.
It's literally all like that. "A perfect odour bathed the shadow and a thousand little scents ran up and down." Behold the seething cauldron of the unleashed subconscious mind, lol.
You wonder: What went wrong?
Theory 1: Breton's amoralism was phony, and he was incapable (like every other sane person) of shutting off his internal critic. The problem was compounded by Breton and Soupault writing together. Both were subconsciously worried about the other's judgment and self-censored as a result.
Theory 2: For reasons like those given in Theory 1, free association and automatic writing are a bad way to access the unconscious. Commercial activity is better. Consider the development of the pulps, or slasher films, or media like the Springer Show, or Pornhub. If the unconscious has a need, some niche market will spring up around it. This is why something like "I Spit on Your Grave" or "The Last House on the Left" is far more emblematic of surrealism, as Breton defines it, than the Magnetic Fields.
Theory 3: Breton's project was épater la bourgeoisie. The trouble is that, to scandalize the bourgeoisie, you must be bourgeoisie. The middle and upper classes aren't scandalized by the vulgar antics of lower class proles, like Professional Wrestling or the Springer Show. You need a certain level of social status for the bourgeoisie to care what you think. Breton was only willing to go amoral within the constraint of preserving his own social capital. This was good business as well. Surrealism in Breton's time was a cottage industry....more
Five stars for the "No Fear Shakespeare" format. Original Shakespeare on the left, modern English translation on the right. Very easy to read. Mainly Five stars for the "No Fear Shakespeare" format. Original Shakespeare on the left, modern English translation on the right. Very easy to read. Mainly I read the modern side, pausing to take in Shakespeare's English at the most beautiful/interesting parts.
The play itself was awful. I was shocked by the stupidity of the plot, and the disconnected pointlessness of the sub-plots. Have to agree with my friend William: the sci-fi film "Forbidden Planet" (based on The Tempest) is far superior as a dramatic work. ...more
Very nice version of the Odyssey. I didn't find the art entirely satisfactory, but some parts were beautifully done (the Cyclops, the panoramic sea scVery nice version of the Odyssey. I didn't find the art entirely satisfactory, but some parts were beautifully done (the Cyclops, the panoramic sea scenes). Above all, I appreciated the artist's loving care and fidelity to the story. Hinds' rustic art is much more appropriate than the Marvel version, The Odyssey, where the women look like 21st century plastic surgery bimbos. Athena was chaste, a fierce goddess of strategic war, not a porn actress!
Athena, Ancient Greece [image]
Athena, as envisioned by Marvel, 2008 [image]...more
Milton's blank verse is incredible. He's a master of the form, and I love to hear it read well. It's a beautiful form of music. The content of ParadisMilton's blank verse is incredible. He's a master of the form, and I love to hear it read well. It's a beautiful form of music. The content of Paradise Lost, on the other hand, is boring and lifeless. I say that as an enthusiast of the Old Testament. The stories of Genesis just don't hold up when translated into this talky, ornate idiom. They lose their seriousness and allegorical power when Adam and Eve have mundane conversations like characters in a sitcom. They're symbols, not people! It's a weird tendency in the Christian world: taking the allegories of the Bible and somehow trying to make them "real." It reminds me of "Creation Science": let's take Genesis as fact, and drill down into how the events must have "really" transpired. Definitely a strange way to respond to allegory. In the end, there's nothing important in Paradise Lost that isn't already told in the Bible with far greater power.
Five stars for English prosody, one star for content....more
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