Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky
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Dijana Metlić
Abstract
This essay analyses the influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky on the aesthetic of cinema promoted by the Zenitist circle in Croatia and Serbia. Although the Zenitists never produced a film, the principles of cinematography were integrated into the structure of their literary works and deeply influenced their approach to art. Ljubomir Micić (1895-1971) was the founder and the main ideologue of the Zenitist avant-garde movement and the editor of Zenit: International Review of Arts and Culture, published in Zagreb and Belgrade from 1921 to 1926. Micić was heavily influenced by the Futurist admiration of dynamic movement, velocity, technical progress and new media. In his poetry, manifestos, dramas and prose works, he developed Zenitist literature as a combination of Marinettiʼs Words-in- Freedom technique and Mayakovskyʼs Word-as-Such, applying film editing techniques and principles of simultaneity. In his “Categorical Imperative” (1922), Micić postulated his own Words-in-Space and announced that the simultaneous expansion of varied events was the most important element of Zenitist poetry. These ‘simultaneous expansions’ primarily referred to cinematic simultaneity and were indebted to Marinettiʼs Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature (1912), which also proposed the introduction of cinematic elements into poetry. Micić’s ‘radio-film’ Shimmy in the Graveyard of the Latin Quarter (1922) was structured like a cinematic collage and constitutes a novel version of Eisenstein’s ‘Montage of Attractions’. In his hybrid volume of poetry, The Rescue Car (1922), Micić combined texts and illustrations in a manner that shows his admiration for Futurism, Constructivism and film. In this essay, I discuss Marinettiʼs and Mayakovskyʼs understanding of the links between film and literature, analyse their similarities and differences to Micićʼs position and investigate the impact that cinema had on Micićʼs writings
Abstract
This essay analyses the influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky on the aesthetic of cinema promoted by the Zenitist circle in Croatia and Serbia. Although the Zenitists never produced a film, the principles of cinematography were integrated into the structure of their literary works and deeply influenced their approach to art. Ljubomir Micić (1895-1971) was the founder and the main ideologue of the Zenitist avant-garde movement and the editor of Zenit: International Review of Arts and Culture, published in Zagreb and Belgrade from 1921 to 1926. Micić was heavily influenced by the Futurist admiration of dynamic movement, velocity, technical progress and new media. In his poetry, manifestos, dramas and prose works, he developed Zenitist literature as a combination of Marinettiʼs Words-in- Freedom technique and Mayakovskyʼs Word-as-Such, applying film editing techniques and principles of simultaneity. In his “Categorical Imperative” (1922), Micić postulated his own Words-in-Space and announced that the simultaneous expansion of varied events was the most important element of Zenitist poetry. These ‘simultaneous expansions’ primarily referred to cinematic simultaneity and were indebted to Marinettiʼs Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature (1912), which also proposed the introduction of cinematic elements into poetry. Micić’s ‘radio-film’ Shimmy in the Graveyard of the Latin Quarter (1922) was structured like a cinematic collage and constitutes a novel version of Eisenstein’s ‘Montage of Attractions’. In his hybrid volume of poetry, The Rescue Car (1922), Micić combined texts and illustrations in a manner that shows his admiration for Futurism, Constructivism and film. In this essay, I discuss Marinettiʼs and Mayakovskyʼs understanding of the links between film and literature, analyse their similarities and differences to Micićʼs position and investigate the impact that cinema had on Micićʼs writings
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Editorial IX
- Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
-
10.1515/9783110646238-202
- Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
- Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
- Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
- Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
- Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
- The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
- Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
- Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
- The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
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Section 2: Archive Reports
- The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
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Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
- “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
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Section 4: Obituaries
- Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
- Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
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Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
- The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
- A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
- A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
- 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
- Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
- The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
- Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
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Section 6: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
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Section 7: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
- Notes on Contributors 479
- Name Index 487
- Subject Index 527
- Geographical Index 557
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Editorial IX
- Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
-
10.1515/9783110646238-202
- Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
- Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
- Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
- Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
- Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
- The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
- Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
- Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
- The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
-
Section 2: Archive Reports
- The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
-
Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
- “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
-
Section 4: Obituaries
- Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
- Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
-
Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
- The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
- A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
- A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
- 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
- Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
- The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
- Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
-
Section 6: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
-
Section 7: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
- Notes on Contributors 479
- Name Index 487
- Subject Index 527
- Geographical Index 557
