The Evolution of the French Avant-Garde from Italian Futurism, to Surrealism, to Situationism, to the Writers of the Literary Journal Tel Quel
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A CHANGING OF THE GUARD: THE EVOLUTION OF THE FRENCH AVANT-GARDE FROM ITALIAN FUTURISM, TO SURREALISM, TO SITUATIONISM, TO THE WRITERS OF THE LITERARY JOURNAL TEL QUEL DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Mary Laura Papalas, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Professor Jean-François Fourny, Adviser Approved by Professor Charles Klopp Professor Judith Mayne _______________________________ Professor Karlis Racevskis Adviser Graduate Program in French & Italian Copyright by Mary Laura Papalas May 2008 ABSTRACT The avant-garde is an aesthetic movement that spanned the twentieth century. It is made up of writers and artists that rebelled against art and against society in a concerted effort to improve both, and their relationship to one another. Four avant-garde groups, the Futurists, the Surrealists, the Situationists, and the writers of the journal Tel Quel , significantly contributed to the avant-garde movement and provided perspective into whether that movement can exist in the twenty first century. The first Futurist Manifesto , published in the French newspaper Le Figaro in 1909 by Philippo Tommaso Marinetti, instigated the avant-garde wave that would be taken up after the Great War by the Surrealists, whose first 1924 Manifeste du Surréalisme echoed the Futurist message of embracing modern life and change through art. The Surrealists, however, focused more on Marxism and psychoanalysis, developing ideas about life and art that combined these two ideologies in order to link the improvement of society with the unconscious individual experience. The Situationists, whose group formed in 1957, took up the themes of social revolution and freedom of the unconscious, developing a method for creating situations that were conducive to both of these things. The writers of the journal Tel Quel , who published from 1960-1982, claimed to be part of this literary history, and continued the discussions begun by the others, providing insight into how ii language and its structures, which paralleled those of society, needed to be changed in order to change society. This dissertation aims to define the twentieth century avant-garde and to inquire about its existence in the twenty-first century. The first chapter examines the socio-historic and philosophical context from which these groups emerged and against which they reacted. The second and third chapters analyze the themes of the city and politics in avant-garde works to demonstrate the aims and ambitions of the groups. The fourth chapter looks at avant-garde membership from a gender perpective, focusing on the example of the female Surrealist poet, Joyce Mansour. Taking these criteria into consideration, the conclusion opens a discussion about the relevancy of these groups nearly a century after the publication of the first Futurist Manifesto and looks into the possibility of a twenty- first century avant-garde. iii Dedicated to my mother and the memory of my grandmothers iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Jean-François Fourny, for inspiring me to pursue my studies in French avant-garde literature. His suggestions led me to new discoveries, and the trajectory of this dissertation owes much to his insightful guidance. I am grateful to my father, who always encouraged me to pursue my intellectual interests, regardless of the costs, and who read and commented on the roughest versions of this dissertation. I am grateful to my mother for giving me the gift of her native language. I am also thankful for my brother’s support. I am indebted to Dr. Charles Klopp for his invaluable editorial contributions. I am also thankful for classes I took with Dr. Judith Mayne, who inspired me to think about women artists in different ways. Thanks goes to Dr. Karlis Racevskis, whose class lectures also shaped the writing of this dissertation. I would also like to honor the memory of the late Dr. John Conteh-Morgan, who was originally on this committee, and whose instruction and council encouraged me to question the notions of literary peripheries, sources of influence, and exchange of cultural and aesthetic movements. Finally, this dissertation owes much to my deceased grandparents, whose foreign origins led me to study both Modern Greek and French literature, and helped me to appreciate the cultural “other.” v VITA June 29, 1975………………………………………Born – Greenville, North Carolina May 1997…………………………………………..B.A. French, International Studies University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill June 2002…………………………………………..M.A. Modern Greek Literature The Ohio State University September 2006-May 2007………………………...English Lecturer Université de Rennes, France August 2007-present……………………………….French Teaching Instructor East Carolina University PUBLICATIONS 1. “Nicolas Calas’ Surrealism: Liberating the National Greek Identity.” Modernism and Modernity in the Mediterranean World . Ed. Luca Somigli and Domenico Pietropaolo. Ottowa: Legas, 2006. 103-114. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French and Italian vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………v Vita………………………………………………………………………………………..vi Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapters: 1. Rebellion: birth of the avant-garde………………………………………………..9 1.1 Development of sciences and philosophy……………………………………..9 1.2 Historical development of art………………………………………………...18 1.3 Generations of avant-garde writers…………………………………………..36 1.4 Conclusion……………………….…………………………………………..49 2. The City………………………………………………………………………….52 2.1 The Futurists…………………………………………………………………56 2.2 The Surrealists……………………………………………………………….64 2.3 The Situationists………………...……………………………………….…..72 2.4 Tel Quel ………………………...……………………………………………83 2.4.1 Escape from the city………………………………………………..88 2.4.2 The City as brightness……………………………………………...90 2.4.3 The City as Spectacle………………………………………………92 3. Politics and everyday life………………………………………………………...97 3.1 The Futurists…………………………………………………………………99 3.2 The Surrealists……………………………………………………………...114 3.3 The Situationists……...…………………………………………………….122 3.4 Tel Quel …………...………………………………………………………..130 vii 4. Joyce Mansour: writing from the peripheries…………………………………..141 4.1 Challenging the masculine surrealist gaze………………………………….156 4.1.1 A feminine vision of death………………………………………..158 4.1.2 A feminine vision of the past…….……………………………….158 4.2 Feminine writing and identity………………………………………………160 4.2.1 Writing the female body.....……...……………...……………….162 4.2.2 Writing female violence....……...………………………………..164 4.2.3 Writing female madness………………………………………….168 4.3 Resistance to the portrayal of women as commodities……………………..172 4.4 Conclusion………………….…………………………………………....….179 5. Conclusion: whither the avant-garde?………………………………………….181 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………192 viii Introduction …there is no singular theory that can encompass the avant-garde… it is best understood through a negotiation of plurality of, sometimes contradictory, theories . Andrew J. Webber (9) The aim of this study is to analyze four avant-garde groups that span the length of the twentieth century, to inquire about how the ideas that defined these groups evolved, and to determine whether we can still speak of an avant-garde today. The first chapter focuses on studying the social, political, and aesthetic ideologies that made the birth and existence of the avant-garde possible. The following two chapters each deal with a particular theme in avant-garde art and ideology, which demonstrates the development and evolution of the avant-garde the length of the twentieth century. The final chapter singles out a particular avant-garde artist, Joyce Mansour, who is not typical of the movement, but whose work contributed to an important alternative discourse within the movement. The conclusion, considering the avant-garde as defined in the previous chapters, deals with the possibility of whether movement can exist in the current social, political, and aesthetic paradigm. As the opening quote by literary theorist Andrew Webber suggests, defining and understanding the avant-garde is no easy task. First, there is no coherent avant-garde movement. The different artists (who sometimes associated themselves with groups) in 1 no way represent a monolithic and consistent ideology. In order to clarify the term, I have chosen just four groups which are most representative of the ideology described briefly below, and in more detail in the following chapters. These are the Italian Futurists, the Surrealists, the Situationists, and the writers associated with the journal Tel Quel (heretofore referred to as TQ ). Although there are numerous avant-garde groups which contributed significantly to the overall movement, these four are important for the following reason: most literary critics, especially those who write about the avant-garde, consider the Futurists, the Surrealists, the Situationists, and the TQ group significant, if not central and essential members of the movement. Three of the most cited avant-garde critical works are Renato Poggioli’s Theory of the Avant-Garde (published in Italian in 1962 and in English in 1968) ,Charles Russell’s Poets, Prophets, and Revolutionaries (published in New York in 1983), and Peter Bürger’s Theory of the Avant-Garde (published in German in 1974 and in English in 1984). The latter work is especially useful in this study because