This paper explores rich and complex implications of Marcel Duchamp's Mile of String which he created for “First Papers of Surrealism,” the Surrealist international exhibition in New York in 1942. Part of a larger project devoted to investigating Duchamp's role in Surrealist exhibitions and his relation to the avant-garde group, this paper focuses on Duchamp's exhibition installation in the 1942 show. Under the title of “générateur-arbitre” Duchamp played an important role as installation and exhibition designer in a series of major Surrealist exhibitions in the 1930's-1960's. The “First Papers of Surrealism” was held by Surrealists who exiled in New York during World War I, and Duchamp created a labyrinthine installation of string for the exhibition, which physically blocked the spectator and optically hindered his or her contemplative view. Unraveling the intricately related meanings of Mile of String as an independent work of art and an installation for a specific exhibition, I examine the work on two levels: frst, how the work was situated in the context of Duchamp's oeuvre, particularly his earlier work employing string or thread; second, how and in what way the installation rendered a critique on Surrealism as a group and an avant-garde movement. More specifically, by exploring the concepts of ‘pataphysics’ and voluntary ‘nomadism’ implicated in Duchamp's work, I suggest that his Mile of String asserted a critical stance against nationalism and collective identity of Surrealism and manifested a radical individualism founded upon what he called the spirit of ‘expatriation.’

Surrealism must have influenced myriads of authors, artists and musicians as it was commonly expected as one of the most socio-culturally influential movement ever. However, it is seldom noted that T. S. Eliot may have close connection with Surrealism. Surrealism was originally an artistic movement that was conducted mainly by the works of artists and poets. Even though surrealism had been mainly regarded as the name tag for those who chiefly worked on paintings, it was originally initiated by a group of poets such as Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, Guillaume Apollinaire, André Breton, Stéphane Mallarmé, Arthur Rimbaud, and Charles Baudelaire. Considering the culture atmosphere of the time when it was written, The Waste Land, in this respect, may possibly be read as the outcome of surrealistic influence upon T. S. Eliot. As a matter of fact, it must be a mixture of Freudian theory and the aesthetic spirit of rebellion against the traditional concept of art. Even though there was unbridgeable gap between surrealism and Freudian theory, they resonate with each other in their burgeoning period. The surrealist movement was first publicly announced in 1924 by André Breton in his famous “Surrealist Manifesto.” The nascent period was overlapped with that of The Waste Land. That is to say, the formation of surrealism had already begun after the world war I, which gave Eliot the sense of horror and emptiness and got him disillusioned from the hypocritical western civilization which found the elemental frame of The Waste Land.

미디어 영상, 예술 분야에서의 표현 특징들 중 초현실주의의 표현 기법을 이용한 많은 작품이 출시되고 있으며 이에 대한 연구가 시작 진행되고 있다. 그러나 아직 게임 캐릭터의 표현 특징 중 초현실주의의 표현 특징에 관한 연구는 거의 전무한 상태이다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 초현실주의에서의 표현 기법을 중심으로 판타지 게임 캐릭터의 표현 특징을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 초현실주의에서는 신체의 일부와 동물 또는 다른 사물을 꼴라쥬 하는 형태와 변형, 그리고 왜곡을 이용하여 현실에 존재하지 않는 이미지들을 표현하였는데 이러한 방법들은 판타지를 기반으로 한 온라인 게임 캐릭터에서도 유사하게 사용되었다. 본 논문은 미학적 맥락 속에서 판타지 게임 캐릭터들의 특징을 분석하여 현 시대 문화적 배경 속에 게이머들의 심리를 이해하여 보다 호감 있고 창조적인 게임 캐릭터 제작에 도움을 주며, 예술 기법 활용의 가능성을 증가시켜 창의적인 게임 그래픽 제작의 가능성을 여는데 의미가 있다.