Research Highlights

I have consistently focused on the study of individual late 19th-century writers. However, my research has always been guided by my fascination with Surrealism a passion that began during my undergraduate years. André Breton, a leading figure in Surrealism, characterized the 19th century by an attitude of rejecting the given life, whether social or spiritual. He identified Comte de Lautréamont and Arthur Rimbaud as central to the revolutionary ideology that Surrealism embraced.

At the time, I realized that to understand Surrealism, I needed to thoroughly analyze the works of these two poets. I repeatedly engaged with the texts of Lautréamont and Rimbaud, grappling with their complexity. Nevertheless, I found myself overwhelmed not just by the impact of their words but by the daunting complexity of their writings. My doctoral dissertation, which explored the structure of Lautréamont's The Songs of Maldoror through the perspectives of "narration" and "temptation," was an attempt to shed light on this obscurity.

Following my research on Lautréamont, I turned my focus to Joris-Karl Huysmans, a novelist whom Breton described as his closest spiritual kin. In my study of Huysmans, who began his career as a naturalist writer, I observed his unique approach to linking realism with mysticism. Notably, his art criticism consistently highlights the relationship between the "visible" aspects of painting and their seemingly contradictory "invisible" elements.

With the emergence of photography, realism evolved into a multifaceted issue, intertwining visual (visible) and psychological (invisible) realities. This prompted me to delve into Baudelaire’s art criticism, as Huysmans had directly inherited these concerns from him. In Salon of 1859, Baudelaire’s theory of imagination, outlined alongside his critique of photography, defines imagination as "the queen of all faculties," the power that governs perceptions derived from the external world (nature). He rejects static realism, which merely replicates visual reality, and instead explores the potential of dynamic realism.

These discussions on realism ultimately converge in Baudelaire’s concept of "supernaturalism." It is evident that this concept is closely connected to 20th-century Surrealism. My future research will aim to compare these two ideas within the framework of art theory.