Surrealism’s Curiosity: Lewis Carroll and the Femme-Enfant

McAra, Catriona (2011) Surrealism’s Curiosity: Lewis Carroll and the Femme-Enfant. Papers of Surrealism (9). pp. 1-25. ISSN 1750-1954

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Abstract

This paper concerns surrealist artists' and writers' appropriation of Lewis Carroll. Predominantly focusing on the work of Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, it suggests that Carroll's work appealed to the surrealists' fascination with their childhood selves, and their wish to identify with the curious character of Alice as femme-enfant as a way of subverting their bourgeois family backgrounds. Whether stepping Through the Looking Glass or breaking the rules in Wonderland, Alice can be read as a transgressive character apt for surrealist appropriation. The paper traces Carroll's reception in the surrealist movement, and articulates the curious character of the surrealist femme-enfant in order to reinscribe her epistemophilia in line with surrealism's orientation towards research.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Schools:	School of Art, Design and Architecture
Related URLs:	Organisation Author
Depositing User:	Graham Stone
Date Deposited:	16 Nov 2011 12:59
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2021 21:12
URI:	http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/11945

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