surrealism challenge writing project 1 3 to 5 pages typed; MLA or University of Chicago bibliographical protocols; killer title; carefully proofread; some attempt made to not use the verb "to be" (is, was, etc) in every sentence; original thoughts! (if the wikipedia is your friend for this assignment, watch out!). Your paper is due FRIDAY at NOON, October 19, in the box outside Arts and Letters 273. Redefine the term surrealism using the work of Shainberg, Foucault, and Arbus. Naked Surrealism is the umbrella concept for our psychological novel seminar; review everything we have covered so far and come up with an alternative way of encapsulating our class project. Approach one our texts/films/pieces of art using a feminist critique or employing a feminist perspective. How are women portrayed? Are they objectified or are they empowering or empowered?  A.M. Contrast the use of religious imagery figure Slaughterhouse-Five and Aura. In your essay work out a relationship between the work of Kurt Vonnegut and Carlos Fuentes. In several of the texts so far, we have witnessed transformations in individuals—someone in the process of becoming someone else.  Write an essay about these figurative and literal transformations and relate this metamorphosis to the concept of madness. Explore the category of the “animal”—of the beast, of the other--in Aura and in Fur.  What function do they serve? What can they tell us about the more obviously human or “normal” characters in these works. Consider the literary conventions of the “war novel.” Would you consider Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five a “war novel.”  Why or why not.  In your answer it might help to compare it to specific films and novels—Heller’s Catch-22, Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan etc. Contrast Diane Arbus and Carlos Fuentes representation of unconventional human sexuality and psychology. Dan Clowes and Kurt Vonnegut are ironic--yet they are anything but idenitical.  Contrast the world view of human psychology in the work of Clowes and Vonnegut. In Slaughterhouse-Five, some readers have posited that Billy Pilgrim unconsciously creates Tralfalmadorians in order to escape reality and cope with the horrors of war.  In writing Slaughterhouse-Five, does Vonnegut confront his experience of war or hide from it as might be said of Billy Pilgrim. Compare and contrast one or more pieces of art from you Taschen Surrealism collection with a text that we have read for the class.  What are the differences and similarities between visual depictions of the surreal and literary ones. Is one or the other more effective in portraying the mind’s landscape. Film major city! Contrast the use of POV (point of view) in the work of Hitchcock and Clowes. Identify the thing that Arbus, Clowes and Foucault share in common; explore this similarity in your essay Design your own thesis; proposal due to me via email to memo@sdsu.edu by MONDAY, midnight, October 15, 2007.