Doom Patrol, Surrealism and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I wrote something here, and truth be told, the hard part hasn’t been thinking of something to say but what to focus on.
It’s been a week, and while I didn’t read any of the books I keep saying I’ll finish reading, I instead read a lot of comics. I got the Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol Omnibus and have been thumbing through that giant ass tome.
The whole book is absurdist and wonderful, it toys with a lot of subtext about identity and the humor that comes from the bizarre surreal situations is tied to that. I prefer that than an aesthetic approach to Surrealism.
As is natural with my thinking this led to reexamine Surrealism in general, and later think on William S. Burroughs (more on him later). Surrealism is often framed as just doing weird shit but there was a deeply anti-colonial bend to it that many of the (nonwhite) artists who dabbled in surrealism recognized and embraced. I think there’s something to be said about how this feeds into magical realism, but that’s another idea I haven’t given much thought to.
Anyways, Suzanne Césaire, who was a French writer, teacher, scholar, anti-colonial and feminist activist (and also the wife of Aimé Césaire) has written on this idea as well. I haven’t done much of a deep dive into her works, but a cursory google search revealed some of her writings which appear to be great and exactly what in line with what I was thinking about with how surrealism is perceived and used as a sort of rebellion of a “White Imposed Reality” (that phrase is my words, not hers):
“Our surrealism will then deliver it the bread of its depths. Finally those sordid contemporary antinomies of black/white, European/African, civilised/savage will be transcended. The magical power of the mahoulis will be recovered, drawn forth from living sources. Colonial stupidity will be purified in the blue welding flame. Our value as metal, our cutting edge of steel, our amazing communions will be recovered."
According to Wikipedia, this quote stems from her calling for Martinican surrealism and I don’t want to take away from that but it does sort of line up with what I’ve been thinking about in a broader context. Idk I haven’t really been able to focus on any specific thing so these thoughts carry me elsewhere…
On to William S. Burroughs. I don’t know why this guy has popped up in my thoughts, it might be these thoughts on Surrealism, or maybe it’s because of The Brotherhood Dadaism in Doom Patrol, or maybe it’s a transmission from Aliens in another dimension, but I’ve been thinking about him. It’s been years (possibly a decade) since I read Naked Lunch and maybe it’s time to read more of him. It’s interesting how singular of a figure he is even though he is clearly associated with the Beat Generation and an important figure in that literary moment he still his own entity as well. It’s always strange to look at Burroughs, by most standards or morality, he’s not exactly an admirable person, but also by most standards of literary talent, he’s a singular genius, as well. I don’t really buy into cancel culture, and he’s dead. So it makes it easier to enjoy him. You can’t cancel the dead.
I’m half-heartedly searching to see if he has a global influence in literature I know Bolaño loved his works so that’s a start. I always want to do these deep dives but never seem to devote enough time to do them beyond obsessively googling these when I should be sleeping.
All of this is related to a writing project, I’m undertaking. With each project, I quietly proclaim to myself, Now I am a Writer! only to reject the draft and go seek some other way to justify this desire I have. But this time it’s different, I tell myself each time as I did before. So who knows, maybe this time will be different. In some ways, it’s ironic I find myself closer to the person I always imagined myself being. Zeno’s arrow, but for becoming an “artist” I guess.
As far as TV goes, I watched the following shows:
Mayans MC - A show about Mexican Bikers. I like it. It’s worth watching. Only 3 episodes at the time of this post.
Invincible - An animated series about a boy who becomes a superhero like his dad. It’s fun although it does get pretty grisly with the violence. (this is a content warning). Only 3 episodes at the time of this post.
Falcon and Winter Soldier - It’s the MCU. Fun but /shrug. Only 2 episodes at the time of this post.
Also, I’m rewatching Doom Patrol which is incredibly charming and jumps between absurd and emotionally gripping. Worth checking out. Both seasons are on HBO Max
I fly back to Florida, this Wednesday. I will stay there till the fall when I will move to DC. I hope to establish a routine and post more often and read a bit more than just comics, but I’ll still read comics too.
Hope this post didn’t suck.
Highly recommend 'The Western Lands' as your re-entry point into WSB's works