Atlantis, an Autoanthropology

Over the course of his long career, Nathaniel Tarn has been a poet, anthropologist, and book editor, while his travels have taken him into every continent. Born in France, raised in England, and earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, he knew André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Margot Fonteyn, Charles Olson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and many more of the twentieth century’s major artists and intellectuals. In Atlantis, an Autoanthropology he writes that he has "never (yet) been able to experience the sensation of being only one person.” Throughout this literary memoir and autoethnography, Tarn captures this multiplicity and reaches for the uncertainties of a life lived in a dizzying array of times, cultures, and environments. Drawing on his practice as an anthropologist, he takes himself as a subject of study, examining the shape of a life devoted to the study of the whole of human culture. Atlantis, an Autoanthropology prompts us to consider our own multiple selves and the mysteries contained within.

Atlantis, an Autoanthropology

Over the course of his long career, Nathaniel Tarn has been a poet, anthropologist, and book editor, while his travels have taken him into every continent. Born in France, raised in England, and earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, he knew André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Margot Fonteyn, Charles Olson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and many more of the twentieth century’s major artists and intellectuals. In Atlantis, an Autoanthropology he writes that he has "never (yet) been able to experience the sensation of being only one person.” Throughout this literary memoir and autoethnography, Tarn captures this multiplicity and reaches for the uncertainties of a life lived in a dizzying array of times, cultures, and environments. Drawing on his practice as an anthropologist, he takes himself as a subject of study, examining the shape of a life devoted to the study of the whole of human culture. Atlantis, an Autoanthropology prompts us to consider our own multiple selves and the mysteries contained within.

Montagem literária em Journal du dehors, de Annie Ernaux / Literary Montage in Annie Ernaux’s Journal du dehors

Resumo: Este artigo tem o objetivo de fazer uma reflexão sobre o livro Journal du dehors, de Annie Ernaux (2012), à luz principalmente de algumas reflexões de Walter Benjamin (1989, 1993, 2019) sobre a montagem literária no volume II das Passagens (Das Passagen-Werk). Comparo o trabalho da autora ao trabalho de uma trapeira e flâneuse do fim do século XX, que vai buscar, em outras formas de mediação, uma nova compreensão do capitalismo e das manifestações da economia na cultura. Ao longo do artigo, tentei realizar uma assemblage de reflexões fragmentárias sobre obras literárias direta ou indiretamente relacionadas ao meu objeto de estudo. Assim, começo o texto apresentando uma reflexão rápida sobre as figuras do trapeiro (chiffonnier) e do flâneur em Baudelaire e, em seguida, passo a Journal du dehors, intercalando a essa análise um breve comentário sobre Nadja, de André Breton (2011), que, além de citada por Ernaux (2012), se aproxima temática e formalmente de Journal du dehors.Palavras-chave: montagem literária; Annie Ernaux; Walter Benjamin.Abstract: This article aims to analyze the book Journal du dehors, by Arnie Ernaux (2012), in light of Walter Benjamin’s (1989, 1993, 2019) reflections on the “literary montage”, as expressed in the second volume of his unfinished work Passages (Das Passagen-Werk). I will attempt to compare Ernaux’s work to that of a “chiffonnière” and “flâneuse” from the XXth century, who goes in search of a new understanding of capitalism and of economy’s manifestation in culture through different ways of mediation. This article takes the form of an “assemblage” of fragmentary reflections on other works of literature that could potentially be associated to Journal du dehors. I begin my text briefly reflecting on how the chiffonnier and the flâneur are presented in Baudelaire’s poetry. I then go on to analyze Journal du dehors, interspersing my analysis with a brief commentary on André Breton’s (2011) Nadja, not only because it is mentioned in Ernaux’s text (2012), but also because its structure and themes can be associated to those of Journal du dehors.Keywords: literary montage; Annie Ernaux; Walter Benjamin.

Entre texto e imagem: a morte como tema fotoliterário em Nadja de André Breton

Neste artigo, nos propomos a analisar a obra Nadja (1928), de André Breton, sob o aspecto das relações entre literatura e fotografia que gravitam em torno da utilização de fotografias em sua composição. Composta a partir da associação entre texto e imagens fotográficas, esta obra nos oferece inúmeras possibilidades de análise, dentre as quais pretendemos aqui verificar a constituição fotoliterária da temática da morte. Desse modo, buscaremos demonstrar como as relações entre texto e imagem atuam para a construção do tema da morte. Para isso, contamos com o aporte teórico dos Estudos Fotoliterários (Montier, 2008; 2015; Grojnowski, 2002) e recorreremos ao suporte de parte da fortuna crítica da obra que se dedicou a essa temática, bem como a teóricos que tenham se dedicado a refletir sobre as relações entre literatura, fotografia, espaço vazio, ausência e morte.

The Great Prehistoric Art Swindle: André Breton and Palaeolithic Cave Painting

At Pech Merle in 1952, André Breton provoked a controversial incident by damaging a Palaeolithic wall painting that he suspected to be a fake. This episode provides an insight into the contested status of prehistoric sites in post-war France and the theoretical and ideological implications of their cultural mobilization. Such sites allowed for a disavowal of wartime trauma and supported the reaffirmation of French national identity and its civilizing mission by locating the birthplace of human culture on French soil. Yet their extreme age also threw into relief the relative fragility of the recently invented nation-state. Breton's vandalism cast doubt on the models of cultural progress and pre-eminence that sought to instrumentalize prehistoric art but failed to appreciate the subversiveness of its ‘deep’ history. Ironically, however, Breton's scepticism ultimately enhanced the subversive dimension of archaeology by allowing it to demonstrate the authenticity and age of cave art.

BIOMORPHIC FORMS IN SURREALIST STATUES EXHIBITED IN PUBLIC SPACE

In this study, the sculpture samples of the artists mentioned in the Surrealism movement, which were evaluated in the biomorphic wing of the Surrealist sculpture and especially exhibited in the public space, were examined. With the Surrealist manifesto published by Andre Breton in 1924, artists began to produce works with an approach that prioritized automatism, dreams, fantasies, and ambitions instead of progressing with reason and logic. The movement first showed itself in poetry, and it’s followed with the presence in the art of painting and later in the art of sculpture. In the surrealist movement, there are categories of surreal objects created with biomorphic forms and found objects in the art of sculpture. The concept of biomorphism was examined in this study. Among the works produced by Hans Arp and Henry Moore with the biomorphism approach, only those exhibited in the public space are included. The document analysis method was used in the research. In the light of the data obtained from the literature review, it has been seen that Arp and Moore, who make biomorphic productions, have a close relationship with nature and that exhibiting their works in public space is of great importance in terms of the sculpture-environment relationship and the experience of the audience. Keywords: Biomorphism, sculpture, surrealism

Entrevista a Michael Löwy, galardonado con el Premio europeo Walter Benjamin 2020

Professor Marc Berdet gets into a dialogue with the brasilian-french thinker Michael Löwy, to establish the origin of his career; authors who have influenced his theoretical work such as Walter Benjamin and Max Weber, Karl Marx, Gersom Scholem, Georges Sorel, André Breton, Auguste Blanqui, Anna Zeghers, José Carlos Mariátegui, Charles Fourier, among others; and the evolution of a reflection that touches both European and Latin American critical thought.