Simulating the marvellous presents important new research on Surrealism
and the culture from which it arose. Offering fresh interpretations of
Surrealist art and literature based around the theme of simulation, the
book shows, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, that
the notion of simulation arose in a number of discrete contexts, in
relation to hysteria and war neuroses; more broadly it shadows the
emergence of our concept of 'the unconscious'.
Acknowledging simulation's relevance to Surrealism, this book argues,
radically alters our understanding of the Surrealists' project and the
terms in which one gauges its success or failure. It leads one to
question the naïve assumption that automatic writing or drawing
represent an authentic outpouring of the unconscious and gives renewed
significance to a figure such as Salvador Dalí who embraced simulation
and made it the basis of his art and aesthetic. Resonances are also
explored with postmodern theory and art practice, around the themes of
simulation and the simulacrum.It also points to one of the ways in which
Surrealism chimes with a core preoccupation of contemporary art and
theory.
Written accessibly, and ranging across many of the core ideas of
Surrealism, David Lomas balances coverage of both Surrealist art and
literature, looking at such figures as Dalì, Eluard, Masson, Desnos,
Brouillet, Picasso, Tanning and Janet, as well as Glenn Brown, Douglas
Gordon and Sarah Lucas. The book will interest not only art historians
and theorists, but also students and those with a general interest in
Surrealism.
