10.7273/Z0TM-5781
D’Ambrosio, Matteo
Matteo
D’Ambrosio
A "Poetry of Numbers"? Khlebnikov, Jakobson, Marinetti, Schwitters, Kostelanetz
Electronic Literature Lab , Vancouver, WA
2018
online resource
2018
This paper, which relates to the development of the corresponding canon, is aimed mostly at verifying whether any prefigurations and anticipations of Electronic Literature can be detected in the historical avant-gardes, both in their theoretical statements and in their creative writing. All major artistic and literary movements of the 20th century, especially when they had been successful in imposing their agenda, felt the inclination to define their roots and precursors. In this regard, F. T. Marinetti, for instance, after expressing his wish for an Italy that could get rid of its “illustrious past” (1914a, 1) was committed, as a member of the Academy of Italy, in “forward commemorations” (D’Ambrosio 1999) of major authors (Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, …), up to considering Leonardo da Vinci (Marinetti 1936) and Michelangelo Buonarroti as Futurists ahead of their times 1. Already in the first Manifesto of Surrealism André Breton had started to enumerate several predecessors, among whom he is known to have included Marx, Rimbaud, the Marquis de Sade and Lautréamont.