Italian Futurism
John Ryan
May 27, 2008

Reflection

After reading ten poems written by Italian Futurists, it became immediately apparent that this was an entirely new approach to poetry. It was particularly radical, as its manifesto proclaims, and its poetry teetered seemingly on the edge of plain nonsense. After reading through a few, however, patterns were noticed and similar themes between the poems and their authors were linked. Using F.T. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto as a guide, it was easy to discern the messages that these poets were trying to convey.

The first reaction I had while reading this poetry was the poets’ boldness. Like their fascist counterparts, they were quick to assault you with their controversial views and quicker to frighten you with their violent approach (specifically their proclamation to burn down museums and libraries and to destroy feminists). It was also quickly realized that these poets had a fascination with industrialization and machines, specifically trains and automobiles. Living in an economically backward nation that was undergoing an industrial revolution most likely led to this skewed obsession. Their writing, not just in diction but in their placement and literal shape and pattern on the page, reflected their passion for the machine.

F.T. Marinetti’s poetry in particular had an audible relation to that of an assembly line chugging along. Repetition and otomatopia were utilized in his poem “Zang Tumb Tuuum” where he writes about a train traveling and literally writes out the noises it makes as it travels, “tren tron tron tron (iron bridge: tatluuuuntlin) sssssssiii ssiissii ssiisssssiiii.” It was interesting reading this type of work because it was not immediately apparent what Marinetti was even writing about. Only through his use of sounds and the rhythm made when read aloud, could one begin to piece together what was actually happening in the poem. Trying to reason out his message was often the more difficult and often impossible task.

F.T. Marinetti - The Manifesto of Futurism

Aprés la Marne, Joffre Visita le Front en Auto (After the Battle of the Marne, Joffre toured the front by car)

Correction of proofs + desires in speed

Messina

Successively

The Variety Theater Manifesto

A landscape heard

They are Coming

Francesco Cangiullo - Detonation Synthesis of All Modern Theater

Fortunato Depero - Colors Abstract Theatrical Synthesis

Paolo Buzzi - Finger Nails

Aldo Palazzeschi - The Stranger

Nuns Go Walking

Explication

Nuns Go Walking
Aldo Palazzeschi

The little churches wake up in the half light,
slowly the nuns come out & walk across the bridges.
White nuns, black nuns: greeting
one another, bowing down
the one before the other, visiting
the one the other’s churches, praying
walking back across the bridges.
Once again, the greeting, one the other,
bowing, white & black nuns
gliding by each other in the evening,
in the half light, in the evening.

The first observation after reading Aldo Palazzeschi’s “Nuns Go Walking” is the poem’s symmetry. The poem begins in the half life of the morning and ends in the half light of the evening. Half the poem describes the nuns on the opposite side of the bridge the other half, describes them returning to their side. Cycles are very pronounced, whether day and night, or an excursion and return. The physical poem itself, if rolled cylindrically, could read forever in a never-ending cycle, or rather, portray the simple life of a nun.

The cycle that this poem exhibits reminds me starkly of an assembly line, train, or industrialization in general, a new piece of society which the Futurists passionately admired and often obsessed over. This poem also bares similarities with another of Palazzeschi’s poems titled “The Stranger” in which two speakers discuss a stranger who appears at night then disappears until the next night, again emphasizing this cyclic pattern.

Interestingly, technology is completely absent from the poem. Unlike many of F.T. Marinetti’s works, Palazzeschi’s poetry is very clear and easy to follow. There are no bizarre illogical equations or seemingly mindless ramblings of random words, thoughts, and numbers thrown together. It seems that Palazzeschi is attempting to simplify Marinetti’s message of the importance of industry and growth, by showing the simplicity of life in a nunnery.

The poem has a very repetitious, even tedious tone. Palazzeschi describes the nuns “slowly” coming out of their churches and then in the evening they “once again” greet their fellow nuns. As futile as their lives may seem, I believe that Palazzeschi is attempting to indicate the role that all individuals have in society, whether it’s simply crossing a bridge every day and praying or conducting a locomotive and making sure that it departs and arrives on schedule.

A last note on this poem is the absent of violence. The Italian Futurists in particular are well-known for embracing war and organized violence. Palazzeschi structuring his poem around the lives of nuns, arguably the most peaceful people on the earth, has an opposite effect. I considered that Palazzeschi may have made an attempt at mocking the life of a nun, yet the comparisons between the repetitious cycle of a nun and industrialization were just too great.

Research

The Italian Futurists were a strange bunch of characters that arose during the early 20th century in fascist Italy. They are known for their radical ideals, including an obsession with war and violence (the world’s only hygiene), a fascination with fascism, and a hatred of feminists. Their controversial views made seriously viewing their work difficult and were often only cited as another example of the madness of fascism. However, the Italian Futurists accomplished what all poets strive for, to have their opinions and views presented to the world regardless of how positive or negative the world may consider their work.

One of the group’s main themes was industrialization and the machinery behind it. The group, and more specifically F.T. Marinetti, had an obsession with the newfound speed of the age including the automobile and the train. The futurists believed that with the introduction of the automobile, the airplane, and the preexisting railway systems, space and time were relatively obliterated. Similar to today with the introduction of the World Wide Web, the Futurists viewed these new forms of transportation as a way to immediately spread information across the world. This created a platform for their work and a network in which their ideas could travel. The futurists also valued the industrial age which Italy was currently stuck in. Assembly lines and factory’s were often evident in their work either literally or figuratively.

Otomatopia and repetition were often used to convey the sounds of a train or the grinding and churning of machines. In one work, Marinetti’s Aprés la Marne, Joffre Visita le Front en Auto, Marinetti actually arranges the words into a landscape complete with connected S’s for curved roads, M’s for mountains, and random numbers shaped into rectangles symbolizing fields, forests, or even soldier formations. This strange way of writing poetry helped to express the Futurist’s main goal.

The Futurist’s wished to reestablish an outline of what art is and what it can be. After F.T. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto, many of the Futurist’s works included technical schematics of how to create art. One such work, Marinetti’s The Variety Theater Manifesto, created a step by step guide on how to transform theater. This included steps such as physically gluing audience members to seats, selling the same ticket to a dozen as to cause confusion and strife, and mix and matching works ranging from the Greek Tragedies to Shakespeare and then compressing them together into a type of theater melting pot. The Futurists wanted to show the world a new, more radical form of art.

In reading and viewing the Futurists’ works I gained a new perspective on what art can be. I realized that just because it is not clear cut, often illogical, and made by a group of sexist fascists, does not mean that it is not an interesting form of expression. The Futurist’s bold approach to art and to critics was something to admire and their adamant poems and manifestos were often something to consider.

Fortunato Depero – Subway 1929

The first observation of Fortunato Depero’s piece “Subway” is its striking similarity to F.T. Marinetti’s “Aprés La Marne, Joffre Visita Le Front En Auto” which was created 14 years earlier. Similar to Marinetti, Depero uses both the meaning of words and the words’ physical shapes to help convey a message rich with hurried movement.

At first glance, the most pronounced aspect of the piece is the series of arches found in the middle and then at the foot of the work. Resembling the openings and exits of subway tunnels, it appears that Depero is attempting to lead us through a subway station complete with staircases (the pair of sharp squiggled lines in the top left corner), exits (both at the top and bottom right), supports to hold up the tracks (the word “travi”, which means beams in English, placed into “Y” shaped supports), and even destinations (bottom left) which, with names like 5^th avenue and 23^rd street, imply that this is New York City.

In the middle of the page is the phrase “milioni di mani” which in English means “millions of hands.” Placing such a phrase in the center of the page seems to suggest the importance of people in managing a railway system. These words and others on the page are directed both into and out of page suggesting the motions of a subway car. This piece in its entirety helps illustrate the hustle and bustle of a subway station complete with millions of people, tunnels, destinations, and motion.

In general, this piece fits in perfectly with the Italian Futurist movement. The obsession with industrialization and machines is evident. And illustrating motion through shapes and words is obvious. This piece, clearly inspired by F.T. Marinetti, is an excellent example of the Italian Futurist movement.

Italian Futurism

CHOO

train train train train train train train

DING DING DING

Rattle rattle rattle rattle

rittle rittle rittle

DING DONG DING

red

white

red white red white red white red white red white red white red white

CHOO CHOO CHEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CHUNGA CHUNGA CHUNGA CHUNGA CHUNGA (thunder)

wind escapes the rails and SCREAMS

train train train train train train train

wooooooooooooo

wind skips across the tracks.

woooooooooooooooooooo

In the preceding poem, I tried to express the motion of a passing train complete with using shape to imply movement and colors to bring about suspense in the reader. Very similar to F.T. Marinetti’s “Correction of proofs + desires in speed,” I attempted to use repetition to first destroy any literal meaning the word may contain and then allow the powers of otomatopia to take over. I believe that it is fairly obvious to understand what is happening in the poem simply by reading it and listening to the sounds.