Here are some thoughts I have on the subject of abstract and surreal, for what they are worth. Might help clarify the issue for some, or totally confuse all. :-) tjames can slap me down if I'm totally off the mark. Surreal is to more or less create a dreamlike state, be it good or bad. Franz Kaffka's The Castle epitomizes this, in prose. The Castle definitely gives you the feeling you are trapped in a bad dream. It's one of the few book I had to quit reading before I finished it, it was such a nightmare. A more poetic, and enjoyable, example to me would be Hotel California, by The Eagles. Definitely surreal, as far as I'm concerned. A good example of the abstract would be Nights in White Satin, by The Moody Blues. jon

 
~jon
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