The Debutante and Other Stories by Leonora Carrington
Because of her paintings and the fact that she developed as a writer and painter while she was living in the south of France in her early twenties with the surrealist artist Max Ernst, Carrington was associated with surrealism. She and many other female artists at the time had a somewhat distant relationship with surrealism, in part because they were not invited to participate in the creation of its manifestos and in part because they frequently held an ambivalent position as both muse and creator. In surrealist philosophy, the muse had a particularly potent function that was both empowering and confining for women because it put them at the centre of the movement while simultaneously placing them in a certain position.
The Debutante and Other Stories by Leonora Carrington
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According to certain surrealist literature, women are conduits for the subconscious but are unable to control it or turn it into art. Carrington was quite dubious about everything. Toward the end of her life, she stated in one of the few interviews she gave, “I was not a surrealist, I was only with Max.” This softback collection of short stories is fairly thin.
This is a fantastic place to start if you enjoy oddball things and haven’t read anything by Leonora Carrington. Particularly if you enjoy woodlands, odd animals, and strange surreal fragments. She was a talented artist as well, definitely worth looking into.
