‘Exquisite
Corpse’ in Class | II BA English
The
Exciting Surrealist Weave in Class Today
#classActivity
#psychicAutomatism
The Day Today | Daily Diary
This
morning, woke up at 4.40 am, and then, from 5.30 am to 6.00 am, browsed through
the News of the Day from around the World – right from the regional to the global
- Distilled so Dutifully as the Dew and given to us in a 24-page platter of myriad
hues!
There
were four insightful articles in the Editorial page of today’s Times of
India.
The
first one is on why America is starting to look like Japan - that is bogged
down under a pile of govt debt! [Indeed, Japan’s government debt is one of the
highest in the world, and is expected to continue to rise]!
The
second one is on – A luxury ship in Florida, busy rolling out the red carpet
for Americans seeking ‘Trumpless sanctuary’. 😊
The
usual Jug Suraiya column, where the legend is at his wittiest best on Trump’s
America and beyond.
It seems, the Florida-based cruise ship company is offering a ‘Four-Year Skip Forward’ voyage – four years being the term of the US presidency – to those wanting to escape Trump’s America.
The
luxury ship, which can accommodate 600 passengers, will visit 425 ports in 140
countries. An all-in package comes with a price tag of $155,999 per person for
a double occupancy cabin, and $255,999 for single occupancy.
Those
seeking a longer getaway from what they no longer see as the vaunted home of
the brave, and the land of the free, are thinking of taking up residence in
countries like Italy or Portugal.
The
town of Sambuca in Sicily received “hundreds” of offers from prospective
American buyers for derelict houses, and the mayor of Ollolai in Sardinia says
that he got 35,000 applications for their scheme which offers abandoned
properties for a single euro.
The
third one, from Ms. Narayani Ganesh (daughter of the legendary MCC-ian Gemini
Ganesan) is the icing on the cake!
It’s
on the topic, “Atman Has No Gender. Let’s Dismantle Patriarchy”
Says
Ms. Narayani –
Atman,
soul – is it male, female or other variations of male and/or female? Is it he,
she or they?
Atman
is none of these; it is neutral. The higher Self, universal consciousness, is
eternal, unchanging, infinite and all-inclusive. There is no question of
assigning gender to these concepts.
Yet,
in our daily lives, we nitpick over gender roles, gender rights and gender
expectations in a warped, patriarchal world of our own creation, by distorting
spiritual and scriptural concepts, misunderstanding gender roles. We have made
male domination the social norm in almost all cultures, whether located in the
east, west, north or south.
“I
want a boy.” This is the demand of most would-be-fathers and their parents,
entangled as they are in a web of their own making. Obstetrician Aruna Kalra in
her recent work titled I Want a Boy, narrates her many experiences with
patients.
When
a baby girl is born, there is no celebration; only a pall of gloom that
envelops the new mother’s relatives. Sweets are not distributed; they are
withheld as they were meant to welcome a little prince. The female infant is no
princess; she is viewed as a burden. The new mother is criticised and abused
for not bearing a son.
The
fourth news item was a shocker! It says that, 77% of Professor Posts in
Karnataka Universities remain vacant!
Then,
went to have my morning cuppa at my favourite bistro in town. There I was so
happy to find an auto driver, so engrossed in reading his morning newspaper.
Every
day I find him there at the same spot, at the same point of time, eagerly
reading through the day’s newspaper, first thing in the morning.
Then,
went to my regular Newspaper Mart and got 25 copies of the day’s newspaper.
By
7.50 am, reached College. There my namesake, the lovely rufous treepie bird was at
his best, chirping away, all the way into the day! You may find his cute chirps on our YouTube
Channel HERE.
Well,
it was a rainy day today, with more rains predicted for tomorrow as well.
Students
eagerly came to take their day’s newspaper from our Office – the Office of International
Programmes.
Today,
in my first hour with the II BA English class, as part of their paper on
“Literature and Aesthetic Ideas” we had a discussion on the various art
movements of the 20th century.
Students
were then oriented on Surrealism as an art movement, that ‘aims to
revolutionise human experience’. Artists of the movement, found beauty in the
unexpected and the uncanny, the disregarded and the unconventional, thereby
challenging imposed values and norms, coupled with a search for freedom.
An
Exquisite Corpse is a type of progressive story game invented by Surrealist
Andre Breton in the early twentieth century. It is a Surrealist strategy that
encourages spontaneous writing and urges the individual to transcend conscious
preparation, thereby ‘letting loose’ the unconscious!
Usually,
an agreed upon rule is followed. For example, the AVN Adjective – Verb – Noun –
pattern of sentence writing (that we followed today).
The
first author writes a line using the given pattern of prose at the top of the
page, then folds back the paper to ensure that no one else can read them. After
folding the paper, the first author passes the paper to the next author.
The
group continues the story by passing on the paper in like manner to everyone in
the group. Once finished, one of the authors stands up and reads out loud the
entire work thus created by this collaborative group effort.
That’s
the uniqueness of the game as well. Since, each participant is unaware of what
the others have written, producing a surprisingly weird yet often beautiful
‘weave’ in the end.
The
Exquisite Corpse game facilitates collaborating with other authors, and helps
in liberating oneself from the restraining constraints of order, decorum and
structure.
Thereby,
the game syncs with the First Surrealist Manifesto by Andre Breton, who
exhorted writers to “Write quickly with no preconceived subject”.
He
continues –
After
you have settled yourself in a place as favorable as possible to the
concentration of your mind upon itself, have writing materials brought to you.
Put
yourself in as passive, or receptive, a state of mind as you can.
Forget
about your genius, your talents, and the talents of everyone else.
Keep
reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to
everything.
Write
quickly, without any preconceived subject, fast enough so that you will not
remember what you’re writing and be tempted to reread what you have written.
The
first sentence will come spontaneously, so compelling is the truth that with
every passing second there is a sentence unknown to our consciousness which is
only crying out to be heard.
What
a lovely philosophy to writing, ain’t it?
As
such, Exquisite Corpse is an exemplification of this Surrealist Manifesto as
well.
Now,
let’s move on to the ‘Exquisite Corpse’ Game that we did today in class.
We
followed the AVN Adjective – Verb – Noun – pattern of sentence writing. The
first student – Vasanth wrote a line using the given pattern of prose at the
top of the page, then folded back the paper to ensure that no one else can read
them. After folding the paper, Vasanth passed the paper to the next student in
his class, and so on.
Here
goes their exciting Surrealist Output 😊
Cute
puppies are barking.
A
grey cloud crept across the once bright sky.
Beautiful
cow runs.
A
fair horse was feeding on the grass.
A
beautiful cuckoo was singing.
A
lovely song was sung.
A
pretty girl was twirling.
A
bright dress was hung in front of the shop.
A
fiery spirit keeps running amock at night.
Gloomy
skies hold memories.
The
Beautiful Taj Mahal sits on the banks of the Yamuna.
The
arrogant lady fought in the market.
His
charming eyes are electrifying her.
A
pretty girl is dancing on the stage.
Glory
painted the wall in blue.
A
gorgeous peacock was spotted in Madras Christian College.
A
cute cat was adopted by us.
I
saw a tree which was beautiful.
The
cute cat is sleeping under the car.
The
tired dog sleeps on the couch.
Although
the word ‘surrealist’ was originally coined by the French avant-garde poet
Apollinaire in the preface to a play performed in 1917, it was actually André
Breton, who, in his Surrealist Manifesto (1924), gave this visual art movement
a definitive statement.
Says
Breton –
Surrealism
is pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally,
in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation
of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all
aesthetic and moral preoccupation.
Does
it strike a chord in you, dear reader?
Well,
Freud was one of the earliest proponents of the concept of ‘psychic automatism’
- the process of writing, painting, drawing, or speaking automatically without
conscious thought!
However,
Freud refers to these unconscious flows of thought as "free
associations."
“It
has been considered an unmistakable sign of free association... if the emerging
ideas or images, appear to be connected... without inter-relationship of
meaning,” says Freud in his Interpretation
of Dreams.
Then, heard the good news from Dr. Gnanasekaran,
Department of Botany, that he has been recognised as one of the Taxonomic
Expert Network (TEN) Members (out of 21 key contributors around the globe) for
Acanthaceae.
The Acanthaceae TEN page on World Flora Online is
now live, https://about.worldfloraonline.org/tens/acanthaceae.
A young professor with great promise! We are so
proud of you dear Sir.
Shreya, our vibrant kid from III BA had promised me
long back that she’s got a book recommend for me. Today she showed the book to
me. It’s by Rithvik Singh, and it’s titled, ‘I don’t love you anymore: moving
on and living your best life’, which also happens to be a National Bestseller.
Just giving us all a lovely sneak peek into the book -
Here goes -
Promptly ordered myself a copy of the same. Thank you Shreya. Shreya, btw, is a
published poet.
I was overjoyed to receive a courier from my mentor
and guru Dr. Manalan. The parcel contained a lovely book.
It’s titled, The English Grammar with Linguistic Application:
Redefined by Dr. Solomon Dharmapaul from Coimbatore. Thank
you dear Sir for so thoughtfully sending me a copy of this book.
Today my mentees Joice and Lal met me in my Office, and I gave them a few ideas on how to go about planning their days ahead. So happy that these mentees (including Pompi) from I BA English, turn up regularly to meet me and get guidance from me - their mentor.
I was so delighted to know that Joice, Pompi and Lal have started blogging consistently.
Then, we had our Think Tank Meet (Ideators’ Meet)
at the newly inaugurated MCC-MRF Innovation Park’s Writers’ Nook today.
In spite of the rains, and the Christmas holidays
ahead, I was so glad to see many students who had turned up for today’s edition of Think
Tank.
The topic for today’s discussion was –
“Is AI a Threat or a Catalyst to Human Creativity
and Originality”
Many of the participants contributed to the discussions
on the topic.
Then, Joshua Mahima, III BA English, gave a very impactful
review of his first published book of poetry to the gathering.
We discussed the prospective agenda for the upcoming
Think Tank edition.
Reached home around 6.15 pm. Then, we had the Carols
visitation. So happy to see for the first time, a young girl dressed up as Santa
Claus – one bold step towards breaking the ‘patriarchal’ Santa. 😊 In the same vein, I also wish that, the concept of Santa in ‘Red &
White’ soon becomes outmoded, and replaced with a corporate-free garb!
“The Reason, sir?” You seem to ask! 😊 For that, you may want to watch our Vlog
HERE.
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