A Rêve onanistique: Futurism and Portuguese National Identity in Raul Leal’s Correspondence with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
-
Ricardo Vasconcelos
Abstract
The correspondence between the Portuguese writer and philosopher Raul Leal (1886-1964) and the leader of Italian Futurism, F.T. Marinetti (1876- 1944) has remained relatively obscure in studies of Portuguese Modernism and Italian Futurism. In this essay, I contextualize central aspects of Raul Leal’s intellectual life, paying particular attention to his trajectory during the Portuguese Futurist period (1915-1917), his contributions to the journals Orpheu (1915) and Portugal futurista (1917) and his activities during the 1920s, when he corresponded with Marinetti. During the latter period, Leal caused public commotion in Portugal with different pamphlets, most significantly with Sodoma divinisada (Sodom Deified, 1923). He gained the reputation of an irreverent figure in Portuguese literature, one who publicly proposed to excommunicate the Pope and who wrote disconcerting letters to the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. I analyse documents pertaining to this correspondence with Marinetti and to the books Leal dedicated to him. Some of these I discovered in Raul Leal’s private papers held in the collection of Fernando Távora (Porto), in the Alberto de Serpa archive (Porto) and in the Beinecke Library of Yale University (New Haven/CT). Finally, I examine how Leal presented in his correspondence his vision of the Portuguese nation as a ‘promethean’ people made up of ‘Futurists’, ‘Anarchists’ and ‘Onanists’. Ultimately, he deemed the Portuguese colonial past to be a continuation of a ‘rêve onanistique’, a self-gratifying dream of greatness and imperial grandeur, which never achieved its desired aim.
Abstract
The correspondence between the Portuguese writer and philosopher Raul Leal (1886-1964) and the leader of Italian Futurism, F.T. Marinetti (1876- 1944) has remained relatively obscure in studies of Portuguese Modernism and Italian Futurism. In this essay, I contextualize central aspects of Raul Leal’s intellectual life, paying particular attention to his trajectory during the Portuguese Futurist period (1915-1917), his contributions to the journals Orpheu (1915) and Portugal futurista (1917) and his activities during the 1920s, when he corresponded with Marinetti. During the latter period, Leal caused public commotion in Portugal with different pamphlets, most significantly with Sodoma divinisada (Sodom Deified, 1923). He gained the reputation of an irreverent figure in Portuguese literature, one who publicly proposed to excommunicate the Pope and who wrote disconcerting letters to the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. I analyse documents pertaining to this correspondence with Marinetti and to the books Leal dedicated to him. Some of these I discovered in Raul Leal’s private papers held in the collection of Fernando Távora (Porto), in the Alberto de Serpa archive (Porto) and in the Beinecke Library of Yale University (New Haven/CT). Finally, I examine how Leal presented in his correspondence his vision of the Portuguese nation as a ‘promethean’ people made up of ‘Futurists’, ‘Anarchists’ and ‘Onanists’. Ultimately, he deemed the Portuguese colonial past to be a continuation of a ‘rêve onanistique’, a self-gratifying dream of greatness and imperial grandeur, which never achieved its desired aim.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Editorial IX
-
Section 1: Futurism Studies
- The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 1
- From Bologna to the World: The International Futurism of Athos Casarini 51
- Parisian Rivalries before the War: Futurism and Cubism as Enemy Brothers (1912–1914) 93
- Futurism in Occupied Fiume, 1919–1920 123
- Italian Futurism between Fascism, Modernism and Nazi Germany 163
- Vasily Kamensky and F. T. Marinetti: Italian Words-in-Freedom and Russian Typographic Visual Poetry 189
- The Scream of the Boor: Bruno Jasieński and the Politics of Art in Polish Futurism 225
- A Rêve onanistique: Futurism and Portuguese National Identity in Raul Leal’s Correspondence with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 247
- Futurism in Goa: Early Interactions with Marinetti in Portugal’s Colony in India 279
- Out of the Archive: Marinetti in Cambridge (1914) 307
-
Section 2: Obituaries and Anniversaries
- Mariana Aguirre (1977–2022): Obituary 327
- Akademiia Zaumi 339
- The 100th Anniversary of Zenit (1921–2021): Futurism and the Yugoslav Avant-garde 349
-
Section 3: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Cesare Andreoni (1903–1961), a Futurist in Milan: A Study Day Promoted by the Archivio Cesare Andreoni in Milan 359
- Aroldo Bonzagni and His (almost) Futurist Epoch 367
- Italian Futurism in the Gianni Mattioli Collection Presented in Russia (2021) 375
- Depero New Depero: Rovereto Presents the Artist and His Reception after 1960 385
- The Futurist Novel before and After the First World War 399
- Paolo Buzzi and the Futurist chiaro di luna 405
- Gian Pietro Lucini in Context: Futurism and the Pursuit of a New ‘Avant-garde’ 413
- Fortunato Depero’s ‘Bolted Book’ 419
- Visualizing the Invisible: Photography and Futurist Art 427
- The Permanent Revolution of Fascist Art 433
- Space, Geography and Centre-Periphery Relations: New Perspectives on Ultraism and Estridentism, 1918–1927 439
- Ilya Zdanevich (Iliazd): Ambassador of Georgian Futurism 445
-
Section 4: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2019–2022 465
-
Section 5: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 493
- Notes on Contributors 501
- Name Index 509
- Subject Index 541
- Geographical Index 571
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Editorial IX
-
Section 1: Futurism Studies
- The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 1
- From Bologna to the World: The International Futurism of Athos Casarini 51
- Parisian Rivalries before the War: Futurism and Cubism as Enemy Brothers (1912–1914) 93
- Futurism in Occupied Fiume, 1919–1920 123
- Italian Futurism between Fascism, Modernism and Nazi Germany 163
- Vasily Kamensky and F. T. Marinetti: Italian Words-in-Freedom and Russian Typographic Visual Poetry 189
- The Scream of the Boor: Bruno Jasieński and the Politics of Art in Polish Futurism 225
- A Rêve onanistique: Futurism and Portuguese National Identity in Raul Leal’s Correspondence with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 247
- Futurism in Goa: Early Interactions with Marinetti in Portugal’s Colony in India 279
- Out of the Archive: Marinetti in Cambridge (1914) 307
-
Section 2: Obituaries and Anniversaries
- Mariana Aguirre (1977–2022): Obituary 327
- Akademiia Zaumi 339
- The 100th Anniversary of Zenit (1921–2021): Futurism and the Yugoslav Avant-garde 349
-
Section 3: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Cesare Andreoni (1903–1961), a Futurist in Milan: A Study Day Promoted by the Archivio Cesare Andreoni in Milan 359
- Aroldo Bonzagni and His (almost) Futurist Epoch 367
- Italian Futurism in the Gianni Mattioli Collection Presented in Russia (2021) 375
- Depero New Depero: Rovereto Presents the Artist and His Reception after 1960 385
- The Futurist Novel before and After the First World War 399
- Paolo Buzzi and the Futurist chiaro di luna 405
- Gian Pietro Lucini in Context: Futurism and the Pursuit of a New ‘Avant-garde’ 413
- Fortunato Depero’s ‘Bolted Book’ 419
- Visualizing the Invisible: Photography and Futurist Art 427
- The Permanent Revolution of Fascist Art 433
- Space, Geography and Centre-Periphery Relations: New Perspectives on Ultraism and Estridentism, 1918–1927 439
- Ilya Zdanevich (Iliazd): Ambassador of Georgian Futurism 445
-
Section 4: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2019–2022 465
-
Section 5: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 493
- Notes on Contributors 501
- Name Index 509
- Subject Index 541
- Geographical Index 571
