Surrealism and the Gothic

Surrealism and the Gothic argues for the determinative influence of the gothic - of the gothic novel itself and of ideas strongly associated with the gothic (insanity, incarceration, the 'accursed outsider', magic, etc.) - upon both the formation and subsequent direction of the surrealist movement.

Neil Matheson is Senior Lecturer in Theory and Criticism of Photography at the University of Westminster, publishing widely on surrealism, photography and contemporary art. Publications include The Sources of Surrealism (2006), joint-editorship of The Machine and the Ghost (2013) and recent essays on Magritte, Ithell Colquhoun and on spirit photography.

Contents Preface List of abbreviations List of figures Introduction: 'the start of a venture' Ch.1 Crossing the Bridge: Surrealism between dream and reality Ch.2 From the Castle to the Street: Fantômas and the re-enchantment of modern urban life Ch.3 Gothic Psychology and the 'humid backroom of Spiritualism' Ch.4 The Theatre of Blood: Breton and the psychiatrists Ch.5 Dark Angel of Surrealism: Artaud, electroshock and black magic Ch.6 Heritage of the Accursed: Magic and occultism in wartime and postwar Surrealism Ch.7 Return to the Castle: Transgression and Sadean violence in the postwar era Conclusion: gothic surrealism and the mutation of inner space Index