Enough to Condemn: A Look at Surrealism and Mental Health Through Breton’s Nadja
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
23-4-2021 12:15 PM
Keywords
Surrealism, France, Literature
Biography
Forrest Mills is a History and French major.
Major
French
Advisor for this project
Nicholas Shangler
Abstract
In this project, we see the relation between Surrealism and the field of mental health, and how André Breton (1896-1966) was influential in both movements. Breton is perhaps one of the most notable, and certainly one of the first proponents of the Surrealist movement, and he had a terrific impact on the direction it took. Breton was greatly influenced by Freud and other mental health experts of the time. I argue that his novel Nadja (1928) illustrates how Surrealism took many of its ideas from Freud and other practitioners of psychology and psychiatry. The two are clearly and closely related, and the importance is seen in how Nadja is treated in the novel, as well as how Breton reacts to it.
Enough to Condemn: A Look at Surrealism and Mental Health Through Breton’s Nadja
In this project, we see the relation between Surrealism and the field of mental health, and how André Breton (1896-1966) was influential in both movements. Breton is perhaps one of the most notable, and certainly one of the first proponents of the Surrealist movement, and he had a terrific impact on the direction it took. Breton was greatly influenced by Freud and other mental health experts of the time. I argue that his novel Nadja (1928) illustrates how Surrealism took many of its ideas from Freud and other practitioners of psychology and psychiatry. The two are clearly and closely related, and the importance is seen in how Nadja is treated in the novel, as well as how Breton reacts to it.
