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Birrell, Ross John (2002) The theatre of destruction : anarchism, nihilism & the avant-garde, 1909-1945. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2912/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE THEATRE OF DESTRUCTION: ANARCHISM, NIHILISM & THE AVANT-GARDE, 1909 -1945 ROSS JOHN BIRRELL DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE, FILM & TELEVISION STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW Ph.D. JUNE 2002 Abstract This thesis argues that theatricalization is an appropriate paradigm to employ in a political reassessment of the historical avant-garde moments of Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. Through an analysis of the performativity and theatricality of the manifestos and manifestations of these successive avant- gardes, it is suggested that each avant-garde moment self-dramatizes a destructive character. An argument is then developed that the destructive character of the avant-garde demonstrates and displays a libertarian-barbarian dialectic which emerges from within the discourses of anarchism and nihilism, in particular from Michael Bakunin's maxim: `the passion for destruction is a creative passion, too'. The destructive character of the avant-garde is manifest most clearly in the manifestos which announce and perform a desire for the destruction of the institution of art and the re-integration of art and life, as advanced by Peter Bürger. Identifying a parallel between the discourses of theatricalization and aestheticization in Symbolist drama, I argue that the paradigm of theatricalization necessitates a critical re-assessment of the polarity which Walter Benjamin advances, between the aestheticization of politics and the politicization of art. Further, it is suggested, we must also re-examine the polarity which Bürger asserts between Aestheticism and the avant-garde with respect to the question of autonomy in art. Thus, from Bakunin's initial breakdown of the opposition between destruction/ creation we embark upon a re-examination of the polarity between key terms of the avant-garde: libertarian / barbarian; incarnation / integration; aestheticization / politicization; theatricality / performativity. The theatricalization of the avant-garde manifesto is then articulated in the context of Habermas' study of the structural transformation of the public sphere from feudalism (theatricalization) to capitalism (literalization). Here, I suggest that immanent within the performative and theatrical modality of avant-garde manifestos and manifestations are the origins of a retheatricalization and refeudalization of the public sphere. Finally, I suggest that the repetition of the destructive character of the avant-garde suggests a parallel with Nietzsche's theory of the eternal recurrence and that, consonant with the paradigm of theatricalization which emerges from a political reassessment of the historical avant-garde, the avant-garde manifests a theatricalization of History. 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank those institutions which have funded, assisted and supported this research including: Students Awards Agency for Scotland, the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies University of Glasgow. I would also like to thank staff at the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal and the friendly staff at the Bibliotheque Gaston Baty, Paris. I am particularly indebted to my close friends, colleagues and students at Glasgow School of Art for their continued encouragement and advice, and to the Department of Historical and Critical Studies for access to facilities and resources. I would also like to thank all those who have supported me throughout this research: Jane Allan, Stephen Barber, Henry Birrell, Marie Birrell, John Calcutt, Malcolm Dickson, Adrian Glew, Dominic Hislop, Alexia Holt, Stewart Home, Roddy Hunter, Stephen Hurrel, Gordon Hush, Tom Leonard, Laura Martin, Kyle Smyth, Stephen Thomson, Oscar Marietta, Peter McCaughey, Francis McKee, Susan McLay, Gustav Metzger, Donald Pirie, Adrienne Scullion, Brian Singleton, Sarah Smith, and Gordana Stanisic. I would especially like to thank Claude Schumacher for his -perseverance, patience and generosity. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the late Dr. Alasdair Cameron, who taught me in my first year as a student at Glasgow. During a chance meeting on Byres Road in the summer of 1992, shortly after graduation, Alasdair suggested I return to do a Ph.D. He always did have a cruel sense of humour. ---- 2 Contents Abstract Acknowledgements 2 Contents 3 List of Illustrations 4 Prologue 5 Introduction The Historical Avant-Garde in Context 7 1. Theoretical Frame 1.1 Chapter One The Destructive Character of the Avant-Garde: Libertarians and Barbarians 37 2. Historical Application 2.1 Chapter Two The New Barbarians: The Destructive Gesture of Italian Futurism 136 2.2 Chapter Three The Aura of Destruction: the Manifestations of Zürich Dada 215 2.3 Chapter Four Understudy Revolutionaries: Surrealism and the Politics of Destruction 284 Conclusion The Theatricalization and Death of the Avant-Garde 376 Epilogue 3$4_ Bibliography 385 Illustrations 405 3 List of Illustrations Fig. 1. First night programme for Alfred Jarry's Ubu roi at the Theatre de L'Euvre, 9- 11 December 1896. Lithograph. Reproduced in Claude Schumacher, Alfred Jarry and Guillaume Apollinaire (London: MacMillan, 1984). (Fig. 6. ) Fig. 2. F. T. Marinetti, `The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism', as it appeared on the front page of Le Figaro on 20 February 1909. Reproduced in Caroline Tisdall and Angelo Bozzolla, Futurism (London: Thames & Hudson, 1977), p. 6. (Fig. 1.) Fig. 3. Marinetti declaiming at a Futurist serate. Angelo Bozzola and Caroline Tisdall, Futurismo 1909-1919: Exhibition of Italian Futurism (Newcastle Upon Tyne/ Edinburgh:. Northern Arts and Scottish Arts Council, 1972) p. 69. Fig. 4. Hugo Ball performing Karawane, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 June 1916. Reproduced in Annabelle Melzer, Dada and Surrealist Performance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), p. 56. (Fig. 10.) Fig. 5. Dada advert hair product. Reproduced in Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, (London: Picador, 1990). Fig. 6. The front cover of the first issue of La Revolution Surrealist, 1 December 1924. Reproduced in Andre Breton, What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings, edited by Franklin Rosemont (New York: Pathfinder, 1978), Book 2, p. 2. Fig 7. Antonin Artaud, The Cenci, at the Thdätre des Folies-Wagram in North West Paris, 6- 22 May 1935. Reproduced on cover of Antonin Artaud, The Cenci, translated by Simon Watson-Taylor (London: Calder and Boyars, 1969). Fig. 8. Antonin Artaud, The Cenci, at the Theatre des Folies-Wagram in North West Paris, 6- 22 May 1935. Reproduced in Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings, edited by Susan Sontag, translated by Helen Weaver (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985). 4 Prologue Prologue I have before me, as I write, a reproduction of a lithograph: an illustration of the first-night programme for Alfred Jarry's Ubu roi which opened at the Theatre de L'cEuvre, Paris, on 9 December 1896. [Fig. 1] The image shows the aftermath of a scene of destruction, catastrophe, war. In the background a house is burning. The building is almost totally consumed by fire. Rising above the carnage is a strange balloon-like bird, with an alien head and wings far too small but which nevertheless serve to fan the flames. Tied to one of its protruding stick-legs is a bag of money. This is no phoenix that's for sure: there is no fragment of redemption to be found in this universe. The bird hovers like a toy balloon or atom-bomb dust cloud, taunting us with its inane existence: a cartoon cruelty which knows no bounds. In the middle-ground, towards `stage' left are twin supplicants. The two- dimensional figures, resembling woodcuts from the middle-ages, clasp their hands in unison. Perhaps it is their home which is in the process of being consumed by flames. Their faces appear resigned to the fact that their gesture is ignored. Both the balloon bird in the background and the massive figure in the foreground are staring us straight in the eye. 5 Prologue The huge figure on the right fills the foreground. He is the undoubted progenitor of the carnage. His body is large and he stands erect on two stumpy feet like a sideboard. His head, which rises neck-less from the trunk, is in the shape of a cone topped with a single mock-militaristic leaf. Above his crudely drawn features (button-hole mouth, leaf-moustache, `v' nose which spirals into eyes) the forehead narrows where his brain should be. By contrast his stomach, like the balloon bird's, extends in celebration of his adiposity. His left arm which is grotesquely long, and seems to be made of rubber, hangs in a downward spiral. Clutched at the end, in a hand which resembles a metal-claw, is a large bag of cash, the profits of his destruction. His right hand, held aloft from behind his enormous bulk, carries a torch with a dragon-breath of white flame that zig-zags out across a spread of black ink. This flame arcs above the torched house which continues to perform its endless conflagration in the background. I say background, middle-ground, foreground, but of course the stage is as flat as the page it is printed on. It is a world devoid of depth or emotion; a folded universe of cut-out lives and cardboard deaths. The destroyer does not contemplate the scene of devastation but instead stares baldly and blankly out towards his audience, mindlessly confronting us with the purposelessness of his outrage: burning building, abandoned victims, barbarian buddha, a bloated bird squawking beneath a black sun.
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