French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Meazzi, Le Futurisme entre l'Italie et la France
Comparative and World Literature

Barbara Meazzi, Le Futurisme entre l'Italie et la France. 1909-1939

Chambéry: Université de Savoie, collection "Écriture et représentation", 2010

• EAN13: 9782915797626.
• 18 euros

Publisher's overview:

“There was no French futurism; the very excesses of the movement's founders hindered its expansion in Parisian avant-garde circles, where the more constructive cubism held a predominant influence, yet the radical solutions it offered to contemporary uncertainties were also a temptation and a call to boldness”: this is what Michel Décaudin wrote in 1960. However, futurism left significant, even fundamental, traces in language, poetry, painting, music, and beyond. Of course, certain innovations were in the air at the time, particularly in France; nevertheless, the creativity, the somewhat flamboyant enthusiasm, the courage, and the insight of Marinetti and his circle undoubtedly contributed decisively to the rise of the entire European avant-garde.
Why then was the idea of a French futurism rejected in France? To attempt to answer this question and to understand the reasons behind the French rejection of the movement created in 1909 by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, we propose to revisit the history of futurism between Italy and France, focusing on correspondence—some of it previously unpublished—and analyzing several Futurist works.

Contents

Acknowledgements 7
List of Abbreviations 9
Introduction 10
Italian Futurism: Manifestoes and Output 13
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 14
The Founding of Futurism 19
The Caffeine of Europe 21
Futurism Beyond National Borders 29
Marinetti and Zang Tumb Tumb 32
Milan-Florence 50
The Futurists and the Great War: From Heroically Experienced War to Poetic War 61
Marinetti and War 62
Before the War: The Spoken Word as a Weapon 64
The Hero at War 66
War, the World's Only Hygiene 74
Victory 78
Polesics Between France and Italy 81
Futurism and Lacerba 81
Cubism and Lacerba 96
The Polemic with Orphism 98
Italian Futurism and the Rejection of Intertextuality 107
Labor-intus 110
Plagiarism and Self-Referentiality 111
Intertextuality and Futurist Novel Writing 115
Toward the Final Ex-citation 117
Apollinaire and Futurism 119
Futurism and France 137
Futurism in Its Time 137
On the Manner of Welcoming Futurism in France: Paul Dermée and the Need to Be Avant-Garde 145
Dermée and the Futurist Temptation 156
Under the Sign of Apollinaire: L'Esprit nouveau 163
The International Documents of L'Esprit nouveau: Dermée, Seuphor, Prampolini 174
A Detour Through Germany: The Undercurrents of Futurism and Expressionism 178
Does a French Futurism Exist? 195
Selective Bibliography 203
Bibliographies of Futurism 203
Italian Futurists 203
French-Language Futurists 205
Friends and Enemies of Futurism in France 206
Selected Journals 206
Critical Works 206
On Italian Futurism 206
On the Avant-Garde 209
Methodological Supports 213
Index of Names 215

List of Illustrations

The early twentieth century witnessed the rise of numerous avant-garde movements across Europe, driven by a shared desire to break decisively with traditional artistic forms and embrace the dynamism of modern industrial society. Italian futurism, inaugurated by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909 through its famous manifestoes, championed speed, technology, and political provocation. While cubism largely dominated Parisian artistic circles during this period, Italian futurist ideas circulated internationally, sparking both intense fascination and strong resistance among French writers, critics, and artists who navigated these competing modernist currents.

Barbara Meazzi examines why the notion of a distinct French futurism was largely rejected in France between 1909 and 1939. By analyzing correspondence and specific literary works, the volume investigates the reception of Marinetti and his circle within Parisian avant-garde networks. Readers interested in the history of European modernism, transnational literary exchanges, and the polemical interactions between French and Italian artistic cultures may find this study relevant to their inquiries.