Date: Tue, 4 Oct 1994 16:18:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Judith Frederika Rodenbeck <jfr10-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Svankmajer
To: avant-garde-AT-world.std.com


Thanks, Stuart, for the info on Svankmajer & Czech surrealism. Here in the
US, it's my impression that any exposure to Svankmajer is directly due to
the double-billing of his work with the Quays, on the one hand, and the
relegation of most animation to an audience of children (hm...) provided,
of course, the content is not too disturbing. I don't think the land of 
Disney has quite managed to retain the sense of animation as being in any 
way profound, rich, or unheimlich. 

I think I'd probably agree with David Westling to some extent, at least
vis-a-vis a skepticism about *Breton*. I would expect, too, that the
Eastern European thing called "surrealism" could be wholly different from
the French, internationalist politics notwithstanding.  Which is not to
denigrate either one at the expense of the other at all. So your point 
about the Czech Surrealist Group being separate from CoBRA(esque) 
projects is well taken. Are there any Czech manifestos or written things 
translated into a readable language (English, French, Spanish, or most 
painfully Deutsch)? I've seen photos of incredibly ballsy street 
performances in Prague pre-Spring (I think); any connection?

-fido