Surrealism and Film After 1945: Absolutely Modern Mysteries

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This is the first volume to focus on the diverse permutations of international surrealist cinema after the canonical interwar period. The collection features eleven original contributions by prominent scholars such as Tom Gunning, Michael Lwy, Gavin Parkinson and Michael Richardson, alongside other leading and emerging researchers. An introductory chapter offers a historical overview as well as a theoretical framework for specific methodological approaches. The collection demonstrates that renowned figures such as Leonora Carrington, Maya Deren, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jan Svankmajer took part in shaping a vibrant and distinctive surrealist film culture following the Second World War. Addressing highly influential films and directors related to international surrealism during the second half of the twentieth century, it expands the purview of both surrealism and film studies by situating surrealism as a major force in postwar cinema.

Reviews

In this major contribution to the burgeoning canon of interdisciplinary critical work in surrealism studies, Noheden and Susik have gathered together exciting new essays by leading scholars in the field, offering detailed historical and theoretical analyses of key films and directors which will wholly recalibrate our understanding of post-war developments in surrealism and its cinematic expressions.
Patricia Allmer, author of Lee Miller: Photography, Surrealism, and Beyond

The marvellous essays in Noheden and Susiks Surrealism and film after 1945 make a compelling case for post-1945 as truly the movements age of cinema and a golden one at that. Sharpening our understanding of surrealist engagements with cinema and cinematic engagements with surrealism while inviting us to go expansively beyond the commonly understood historic and geographic boundaries, the essays in this collection provide a wondrous set of enchanted wanderings through postwar cinema, film culture and aesthetics. I am equally excited by what this collection accomplishes in terms of a richer sense of the place(s) of surrealism in cinemas modern era and its global nature as I am by the new inquiries and itineraries it will surely inspire.
James Leo Cahill, author of Zoological Surrealism: The Nonhuman Cinema of Jean Painlev

Author Bio

Kristoffer Noheden is Research Fellow at Stockholm University
Abigail Susik is Associate Professor of Art History at Willamette University