{"product_id":"9789058679604","title":"Magritte and Literature: Elective Affinities","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte (1898–1967) is well known for his thought-provoking and witty images that challenge the observer’s preconditioned perceptions of reality. \u003ci\u003eMagritte and Literature\u003c\/i\u003e examines some of the artist's major paintings whose titles were influenced by and related to works of literature. Baudelaire's \u003ci\u003eThe Flowers of Evil\u003c\/i\u003e, Goethe's \u003ci\u003eElective Affinities\u003c\/i\u003e, and Poe's \u003ci\u003eThe Domain of Arnheim\u003c\/i\u003e are representative examples of Magritte's interarts dialogue with literary figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite these convergences, the titles subvert the images in his paintings. It is the two images together that express the aesthetics of Surrealism—for example, the juxtaposition of unrelated objects whose purpose is to spark recognition. Magritte's challenge to representation compares with metafiction's challenge to classic realism, \u003ci\u003eLes Chants de Maldoror\u003c\/i\u003e, for example, and the intersecting space between art and writing, sometimes referred to as the iconotext, manifests itself whenever Magritte borrows a literary title for a painting. His strategy is to paint visible thought, and this reverse ekphrasis, the opposite of a rhetorical description, undermines the written text. When he succeeds, the effect is poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Leuven University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47042455798000,"sku":"9789058679604","price":59.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9789058679604_p0.jpg?v=1763670901","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9789058679604","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}