Forest of the pygmies by Isabel Allende

Allende, Isabel & Peden, Margaret Sayers (trans.). Forest of the pygmies, London : Fourth Estate, 2005.

Forest of the pygmies is a fast-paced, coming of age adventure story about Alexander Cold, an eighteen year old on an elephant-led safari trip in Africa with his grandmother. Alex soon discovers for himself that everything is not as tranquil and relaxing as expected, when he comes across an festering underbelly of corruption, poaching and slavery. Allende characterises Cold as courageous, and uses a lyrical writing style to evoke a thought provoking narrative.     

A tooth for a tooth : selected poems of Juan Larrea (1925-1932)

Larrea, Juan & Bary, David (trans. Introduction). A tooth for a tooth : selected poems of Juan Larrea (1925-1932), Lanham, MD : University Press of America, c1987.

Juan Larrea was a Spanish poet, art critic and philosopher greatly influenced by French surrealism. “The majority of his poetic and prose works were written in French and translated into Spanish.

Larrea's entire output, including his poetry, is part of an attempt to come into contact with, and decipher, the archetypes of the collective unconscious as they are manifested in all forms of culture, as well as in individual dreams and experiences. He came to believe in a forthcoming mutation in the cultural cycle in which the traditional religious and social institutions of the West, as well as the Western emphasis on individual consciousness, would disappear, A higher form of collective consciousness would emerge, perhaps rooted in the rediscovered primitive cultures of America.” (Crispin, John. "Larrea, Juan.") Larrea uses a densely-written descriptive language style to demonstrate complex intellectual themes.

Aimé Césaire, the collected poetry

Césaire, Aimé, Eshleman, Clayton (introduction, notes) & Annette Smith (introduction, notes). Aimé Césaire, the collected poetry, Berkeley : University of California Press, 1983.

Césaire was born in abject poverty on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. His work mostly centres around colonialism (particularly French), relating to colonial authorities mission to suppress the cultures of native civilisations, and African diaspora, which “refers to black people who now live in exile far from Africa as a result of the slave trade that transported their ancestors into slavery in the New World” (Campion, Edmund's Aimé Césaire). Césaire also endeavoured to describe “the experience of what it meant to be a black person in literary works that would appeal to readers of all races.” (Campion, Edmund's Aimé Césaire). These are works which are both intellectual and emotive, which provide an extensive frame of historical detail, densely written with beautifully flowing tone describing the horrific nature of colonialism.

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

Barnes, Djuna & Winterson, Jeanette (introduction). Nightwood, London : Faber & Faber, 2015.

Barnes is an American-born author who provided valuable contributions to French surrealism. Nightwood is a character-driven work of psychological surrealism that takes place in Paris and Vienna between the World Wars. Felix Volkbein is an orphaned international banker with a fictitious noble lineage, who is drawn to a number of bizarre and extraordinary characters including medical student Dr. Matthew O'Connor, and circus publicist Nora Flood. Volkbein is eventually left with his new son by his wife, Robin, who is incapable of making lasting attachments, and goes on to form and leave relationships with a number of other women, including Nora Flood, who's lives and experiences intertwine. The story culminates in O'Connor and Nora “the pain of degradation and loss that humans are born for, which for Nora and other characters in the novel is embodied in Robin.” (Nightwood By: Murphy, Russell Elliott, Masterplots, Fourth Edition)

Using layering of emotional and intellectual storylines, Barnes' eccentric characters reactions to their life events are used as “confrontations of cultural values; breakdowns in the social order as traditional class structures decay; daring sexual-psychological interpretations of human character and motivation; and a keen, almost morbid attention to eccentric and morally outrageous behavior.” (Nightwood By: Murphy, Russell Elliott, Masterplots, Fourth Edition)

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

Carrington, Leonora & Carrington, Pablo Weiss (illustrator). The Hearing Trumpet, Boston : Exact Change, 1996.

An elderly woman is given a hearing trumpet, and is shocked to learn that her family are planning to commit her to an otherworldly institution where the gates to the underworld are open, the fantastical buildings are constructed like birthday cakes, where the mystery of a recent murder looms. The hearing trumpet is a darkly humorous work of surrealist fiction told through unconventional narrative form, contrasting bizarre fairytale fantasy with feminist themes, ageism and the concept of normalcy. This is a character-driven work that uses humour, albeit morbid, to discuss underlying motifs.

     

Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon

Aragon, Louis & Watson, Simon Taylor (trans.). Paris Peasant, London : Cape 1971

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Paris Peasant is widely celebrated as one of surrealist fiction's most important and influential texts.

Described by Aragon as “a mythology of the modern”, and “a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed.” Paris Peasant uses an extremely detailed depiction of the landscape of Paris to explore metaphysical themes, and to question current trends of thought. Aragon avoids character development typical to fiction and veers towards unconventional forms of narration so as to completely undermine the assumptions of the audience and draw them into his eclectic world. The Parisian setting is reinforced by a great detail of ephemera including maps, newspaper clippings, cafe menus and inscriptions.

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

Borges, Jorge Luis, Kerrigan, Anthony (trans.), Bonner, Anthony (trans.). Ficciones, New York : Grove Press 1994.

This is a collection of 17 of Borges most popular works, or "fictions", in two parts; The Garden of Forking Paths, and Artifices. The themes of the stories are mainly centred around destiny, perceptions of time, and the concept of infinity, all three of which are the central component of Borges work. There is also an cultural and geographical examination of Argentina (particularly Buenos Aires). Ficciones is philosophically rich, steadily-paced, plot driven, and uses the thoughts and actions of characters to depict underlying metaphysical themes and questions, many of which are left up to the readers interpretation.