Italian Futurism and the Development of English Literary Modernism

(Hardback)

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Revisiting the place of Italian Futurism in English literary modernism, this book draws on a range of overlooked historical and archival sources to reassess how English writers engaged with Futurist ideas. It suggests that Futurism offered a compelling response to a cultural tension that had emerged in the late nineteenth centurythe growing separation between art and lifeand considers how English modernists adapted aspects of Futurist thought in order to navigate and reshape fin-de-sicle cultural discourses.

It begins with an analysis of Italian Futurisms transnational affiliations, its position in the European cultural field, and a reassessment of its reception in England, and goes on to re-evaluate three key modernist figures: the Poetry Bookshop proprietor and editor Harold Monro; the Vorticist impresario Wyndham Lewis; and the poet and artist Mina Loy. In doing so, this study not only offers an expanded account of the Futurist movement in England and Anglophone contexts, but also contributes to ongoing efforts to develop a more interconnected and nuanced understanding of early modernist historiography.

Reviews

This superb new account of Futurism traces the impact of the avant-garde Italian movement upon Anglophone modernism. In a series of richly researched chapters on Harold Monro, Wyndham Lewis, and Mina Loy, the book provides the most comprehensive cultural history of Futurism in Britain yet, demonstrating how many writers welcomed the Futurist desire to bridge the divide between art and life as a counter to British national decline and decadence in art. The book benefits from extensive research into archives and periodicals to bring some brilliant new insights into how Futurism was received. This is a book that will thoroughly revise our understanding of Futurism and of modernism in Britain. -- Andrew Thacker, Professor of English Literature, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Author Bio

Robyn Jakeman is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.