Michel Leiris Writing the Self [Hardcover]

This is the first full-length study in English of Michel Leiris's work.This is the first full-length study in English of Michel Leiris's work. Frequently cited as a central figure in contemporary French culture, Seán Hand explores Leiris's participation in some of the most striking intellectual and artistic movements of the twentieth century; surrealism, ethnography and existentialism. Hand locates his writing in these different contexts in relation to the major artistic, political and philosophical concepts of the period. He goes on to argue that Leiris's multi-volume autobiography stands as the model form of self-enquiry in the twentieth century.This is the first full-length study in English of Michel Leiris's work. Frequently cited as a central figure in contemporary French culture, Seán Hand explores Leiris's participation in some of the most striking intellectual and artistic movements of the twentieth century; surrealism, ethnography and existentialism. Hand locates his writing in these different contexts in relation to the major artistic, political and philosophical concepts of the period. He goes on to argue that Leiris's multi-volume autobiography stands as the model form of self-enquiry in the twentieth century.This is the first full-length study in English of the work of Michel Leiris, a central figure in contemporary French culture. It explores Leiris's participation in some of the most striking intellectual and artistic movements of the twentieth-century: surrealism, ethnography and existentialism. Comparing his writing to the major artistic, political and philosophical concepts of the period, Hand asserts that Leiris's multi-volume autobiography remains as the model form of twentieth century self-inquiry.Acknowledgements; Introduction: the deaths of Michel Leiris; Part I. Texts and Contexts: 1. Unities and identities: Leiris and surrealism; 2. Recasting the self: from surrealism to ethnography; 3. Autobiographical frameworks: from ethlÓ