Dr Roberts Donna

A Feeling for Nature: Surrealism, from Natural History to Ecology

Tieteellinen tutkimus / siihen pohjautuva työ | Kaksivuotinen

"A Feeling for Nature: Surrealism, from Natural History to Ecology" is a book which explores the artistic and intellectual articulations about nature within the Surrealist movement. Through an analysis of texts and images, periodicals, exhibitions, collective group activities, and objects from the Surrealists’ private collections, the book focuses on the often unusual or provocative and sometimes unsettling or darkly comic perspectives the surrealists opened onto nature. The book will provide a comprehensive analysis of the avant-garde movement’s engagement with historical ideas about nature, from natural history and Romanticism to evolutionary theories and developments in ecological thinking in their era. While specific in its historical focus, the book also boldly sets out to highlight connections and shared intellectual sources between the Surrealist movement and contemporary critical thinking about nature and the problems of human exceptionalism leading into the current knot of environmental and socio-economic crises. The book will be a highly researched academic publication in art studies but also aims to be of interest to wider international audiences interested in post-humanities, ecological aesthetics, environmental humanities, art, and literature.