Extended Study Notes on Literary History, Symbolism, and Surrealism
THE UNREAL READER AND LITERARY TRADITIONS
The transcript introduces diverse literary fragments, spanning medieval Proven'al poetry to -century Surrealist manifestos.
Guillem IX, Duke of Aquitaine ():
A historical figure known as one of the greatest knights and one of the earliest troubadours.
His poem "Farai un vers de dreyt nien" translates to "I shall make a vers about nothing."
Themes: Absurdity, the void, and paradox. The narrator describes writing while asleep on horseback, having a friend he has never seen, and seeking help from a doctor for unknown ailments.
MAURICE BLANCHOT: THE BOOK TO COME AND SYMBOLISM
The Concept of the Symbol:
Blanchot distinguishes between the symbol and the allegory.
Allegory: Operates horizontally. It represents one thing (old man with a scythe) to mean another (time) within a measured, accessible network of correspondences. It remains within the limits of direct language.
Symbol: Involves a violent "leap" or a "change of level." Its goal is inexpressible and aims to exit the sphere of language entirely.
The Symbolic Experience:
A symbol is not an object but an experience that transforms the reader. It makes a foreign reality present—prodigiously close and far away simultaneously.
Blanchot uses the religious cross as an example: as a symbol, it becomes "all the more a tree" while simultaneously rising into an inaccessible sky.
FRANZ KAFKA: ODRADEK AND THE BURROW
Odradek ("The Cares of a Family Man"):
Character/Object: Looks like a flat, star-shaped spool for thread with broken bits of knotted, multi-colored thread.
Philosophical Dilemma: The narrator is pained by the idea that Odradek, being aimless and mechanical, might survive him and his descendants indefinitely.
"The Burrow":
A late first-person narrative regarding an animal-like creature's construction of an elaborate underground fortress.
The Conflict: Even in total isolation and security, peace is impossible. The narrator becomes obsessed with a faint "whistling" or "piping" noise in the walls, hypothesizing it is produced by a giant, relentless beast encircling the burrow.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
The Story of Grandmother (Folktale): Dark elements include the girl unwittingly eating grandmother’s flesh and blood. The girl escapes using a wool rope and a plum tree.
Charles Perrault (1697): Introduces the red hood; concludes with the girl being eaten (no rescue). Moral: Tame wolves are the most dangerous.
Brothers Grimm: "Little Red Cap" introduces the huntsman who cuts open the wolf’s belly.
Angela Carter: "The Company of Wolves" is a feminist retelling where the girl laughs at the wolf and sleeps between its paws.
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: THE HUNCHBACK CYCLE
The Recursive Narrative: A hunchback dies by choking on a fishbone; the body is passed between four different people who all believe they are responsible for the death.
Theme of Mutilation: Characters trade stories of losing hands or thumbs to save their lives.
Resolution: The "Silent" Barber realizes the hunchback is alive and removes the obstruction from his throat.
JANGAR: THE HEROIC EPIC OF THE KALMYK NOMADS
The Chronotope of Bumba:
A Static Utopia: Bumba is a sacred, mythical realm where the laws of nature are suspended. It is defined by "eternal stagnation" in a positive sense—a land of immortality where the inhabitants never age past the physical prime of years.
Absence of Hardship: It is a world where winter never arrives and death is unknown, representing the ultimate collective dream of a nomadic people facing harsh environments.
The Hero Jangar (The Child-Hero):
Precocious Conquest: Jangar is an orphan whose heroic status is established almost at birth. By the age of , he was already destroying enemy fortresses and subjugating monsters, bypassing the typical human trajectory of growth.
Spiritual Authority: He serves as both a military leader and a semi-divine figure who unites the warriors (Bogatyrs) of Bumba.
Hyperbolic Architectural and Natural Symbols:
Aranzal: Jangar’s red stallion is described as being "faster than thought," capable of crossing vast distances in a single leap, bridging the physical and the metaphysical.
The Palace of Jangar: A construction of immense scale, built by the labor of masters. Its height is described through the evocative Kalmyk idiom: it stands "three fingers below the sky," indicating it is the highest point in existence below the heavens.
The Cycles of the Epic:
Cycle 1 (The Recruitment of Shaman Golden Heart): This cycle details the expansion of Jangar's court through a contest of supernatural perception. Shaman Golden Heart is tested through his ability to see across impossible distances and through solid objects, eventually joining Jangar's inner circle after proving his prowess with weaponry.
Cycle 10 (The Defeat of Badmin Ulan): This narrative focuses on the themes of wit versus raw power. Because the enemy Badmin Ulan is physically invincible, Jangar’s three sons—Khoshun, Khar Jilgan, and Alia Shonhor—must ignore traditional combat. They utilize elaborate trickery, intelligence, and psychological manipulation to capture him and bring him before Jangar.
ROMANTICISM AND THE UNCANNY: E.T.A. HOFFMANN
"The Sandman": Nathaniel suffers from trauma related to the death of his father. He falls in love with Olympia, only to discover she is an automaton with removable eyes. He eventually commits suicide after descending into madness.
THE SURREALIST MANIFESTO AND AUTOMATISM
Andr) Breton (1924): Defined Surrealism as "psychic automatism in its pure state" and prioritized the "omnipotence of dreams."
The Surrealist Image: Born from the juxtaposition of two distant realities. The stronger the contrast, the more emotional power the image holds.
Leonora Carrington: "The Debutante" features a hyena wearing a maid’s face as a mask to attend a ball, mocking social rituals through grotesque violence.