Abstract
Mina Loy’s Insel recounts the friendship between Mrs. Jones, an art dealer, and Insel, an idiosyncratic surrealist painter, in 1930s Paris, based on Loy’s friendship with the surrealist painter Richard Oelze. The novel is often compared to André Breton’s surrealist piece, Nadja in which Breton employs a mad and beautiful young woman as his muse in his journey of self-search. However, in contrast to Nadja’s idealised, passive, and silenced presence in Breton’s creative process, Loy prefers to portray a rather dynamic relationship between a female artist in constant self-doubt about her creativity and a male muse, who is depicted as a physically repulsive, derelict figure. By undermining the generally acknowledged roles of the surrealist artist and the muse, the male artist being the centre of the surrealist experience while the female muse serving as a divine, mad, and beautiful source of inspiration, Loy explores the potentials of a scenario where the surrealist muse is not a silent bystander, but a central agent in the creative process, functioning as an equal part of the artist’s creating mind. Therefore, this article argues that through Jones’s connection with Insel, Loy introduces a fresh discussion on the nature of selfhood not as a singular entity, but as the outcome of a continuous dialogue among multiplicity of selves, as well as questioning and reimagining the relationship between the surrealist artist and the muse.
Keywords
References
- Arnold, E. (2014). Afterword. Insel. Melville House.
- Ayers, D. (2010). Mina Loy’s ‘Insel’ and its contexts. In R. Potter and S. Hobson (Eds.), Salt Companion to Mina Loy (pp. 221-247). Salt Publishing.
- Bozhkova, Y. (2022). Between worlds: Mina Loy’s aesthetic itineraries. Clemson University Press.
- Breton, A. (1960). Nadja. Grove Press.
- Burstein, J. (2012). Cold modernism: Literature, fashion, art. Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Caws, M.A. (1996). André Breton. Twayne Publishers.
- Caws, M.A. (2022). Mina Loy: Apology of genius. Reaktion Books.
- Chadwick, W. (2021). Women artists and the surrealist movement. Thames & Hudson.
- Conover, R.L. (1991). Foreword. Insel. Black Sparrow Press.
- Hayden, S. (2014). Introduction. Insel. Melville House Publishing.
- Lautréamont, L.C.D. (2011). The songs of Maldoror. Solar Books.
- Loy, M. (2014). Insel. Melville House Publishing.
- Loy, M. (1998). Interview with Paul Blackburn and Robert Vas Dias. In M. Shreiber and K. Tuma (Eds.), Mina Loy: Woman and poet (pp. 205-244). The National Poetry Foundation.
- Miller, T. (1998). ‘Everyman his own fluoroscope’: Mina Loy’s Insel between aura and image machine. In M. Shreiber and K. Tuma (Eds.), Mina Loy: Woman and poet (pp. 341-356). The National Poetry Foundation.
- Miller, T. (1999). Late modernism: Politics, fiction, and the arts between the World Wars. University of California Press.
- Parmar, S. (2013). Reading Mina Loy’s autobiographies. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Prescott, T. (2017). Poetic salvage: Reading Mina Loy. Bucknell University Press.
- Rupert, J.J. (2008). Oscillating Wildly: Surrealist women and the ethics of literary modernism (PhD Dissertation) University of Illinois. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/oscillating-wildly-surrealist-women-ethics/docview/304325417/se-2
- Scuriatti, L. (2019). Mina Loy’s critical modernism. University Press of Florida.
- Walter, C. (2009). Getting impersonal: Mina Loy’s body politics from ‘Feminist Manifesto’ to Insel. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 55(4), 663-692. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mfs.0.1635
Mina Loy’un 'Insel' Adlı Romanında Sürrealist Sanatçı ve İlham Perisi Arasındaki Dinamiklerin Yeniden Yorumlanması
Abstract
Mina Loy’un Insel adlı romanı, 1930’ların Paris’inde bir sanat simsarı olan Mrs. Jones ile tuhaf bir sürrealist ressam olan Insel arasındaki dostluğu anlatır ve Loy’un sürrealist ressam Richard Oelze ile olan dostluğuna dayanmaktadır. Roman sık sık André Breton’un benlik arayışı için çıktığı yolculukta deli ve güzel bir kadını ilham perisi olarak kullandığı sürrealist eseri Nadja ile karşılaştırılır. Fakat Breton’un yaratıcı sürecinde idealize edilmiş, pasif ve susturulmuş bir varlık olarak tasvir edilen Nadja’nın aksine, Loy, sürekli olarak yaratıcılığı hakkında kendinden şüphe duyan bir kadın sanatçı ile fiziksel olarak itici, avare bir erkek ilham perisi arasındaki dinamik bir ilişkiyi resmetmeyi tercih eder. Sürrealist sanatçı ile ilham perisinin genel olarak kabul gören, erkek sanatçının sürrealist deneyimin merkezinde olduğu, kadın ilham perisinin ise görkemli, deli ve güzel bir ilham kaynağı olarak hizmet ettiği rollerini tersine çeviren Loy, sürrealist ilham perisinin sessiz bir seyirci olmadığı, sanatçının düşünen zihninin eşit bir parçası olarak yaratıcı süreçte merkezi bir unsur olduğu bir senaryonun potansiyellerini keşfeder. Bu makale, Jones’un Insel ile olan bağı üzerinden Loy’un benliğin tekil bir öz değil, birden çok benlik arasındaki aralıksız diyaloğun bir sonucu olduğu fikriyle benliğin doğasına dair yeni bir tartışma ortaya koyduğunu ve sürrealist sanatçı ile ilham perisi arasındaki ilişkiyi sorgulayıp yeniden tasavvur ettiğini ileri sürer.
Keywords
References
- Arnold, E. (2014). Afterword. Insel. Melville House.
- Ayers, D. (2010). Mina Loy’s ‘Insel’ and its contexts. In R. Potter and S. Hobson (Eds.), Salt Companion to Mina Loy (pp. 221-247). Salt Publishing.
- Bozhkova, Y. (2022). Between worlds: Mina Loy’s aesthetic itineraries. Clemson University Press.
- Breton, A. (1960). Nadja. Grove Press.
- Burstein, J. (2012). Cold modernism: Literature, fashion, art. Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Caws, M.A. (1996). André Breton. Twayne Publishers.
- Caws, M.A. (2022). Mina Loy: Apology of genius. Reaktion Books.
- Chadwick, W. (2021). Women artists and the surrealist movement. Thames & Hudson.
- Conover, R.L. (1991). Foreword. Insel. Black Sparrow Press.
- Hayden, S. (2014). Introduction. Insel. Melville House Publishing.
- Lautréamont, L.C.D. (2011). The songs of Maldoror. Solar Books.
- Loy, M. (2014). Insel. Melville House Publishing.
- Loy, M. (1998). Interview with Paul Blackburn and Robert Vas Dias. In M. Shreiber and K. Tuma (Eds.), Mina Loy: Woman and poet (pp. 205-244). The National Poetry Foundation.
- Miller, T. (1998). ‘Everyman his own fluoroscope’: Mina Loy’s Insel between aura and image machine. In M. Shreiber and K. Tuma (Eds.), Mina Loy: Woman and poet (pp. 341-356). The National Poetry Foundation.
- Miller, T. (1999). Late modernism: Politics, fiction, and the arts between the World Wars. University of California Press.
- Parmar, S. (2013). Reading Mina Loy’s autobiographies. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Prescott, T. (2017). Poetic salvage: Reading Mina Loy. Bucknell University Press.
- Rupert, J.J. (2008). Oscillating Wildly: Surrealist women and the ethics of literary modernism (PhD Dissertation) University of Illinois. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/oscillating-wildly-surrealist-women-ethics/docview/304325417/se-2
- Scuriatti, L. (2019). Mina Loy’s critical modernism. University Press of Florida.
- Walter, C. (2009). Getting impersonal: Mina Loy’s body politics from ‘Feminist Manifesto’ to Insel. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 55(4), 663-692. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mfs.0.1635
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture |
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Early Pub Date | June 4, 2025 |
| Publication Date | |
| Submission Date | September 6, 2024 |
| Acceptance Date | December 5, 2024 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2025 Volume: 42 Issue: 1 |
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