Stacking the Deck

January 17, 2014

Speaking of cards

The surrealist invented their own deck, also with four suits, Love represented by a flame, Dream represented by a black star, Revolution by a wheel, and Knowledge by a lock. Instead of King, Queen, and Jack, the face cards become Genius, Siren, and Magus representing various historical figures. Thus, in the suit of Flame, the Genius is Baudelaire, the Siren is the Portuguese Nun, and the Magus Novalis. The suits Star, Wheel, and Lock are as follows:

		Genius		Siren		Magus
Star		Lautréamont		Alice		Freud
Wheel		de Sade		Lamiel		Pancho Villa
Lock		Hegel		Hélène Smith		Paracelcus

The examples below are from A Book of Surrealist Games, compiled by Alastair Brotchie and edited by Mel Gooding.

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Speaking of cards 2

Assignment for Monday: Read Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock.  Come prepared to divide into groups of three and play Ombre.

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