Boomboom and Hullabaloo: Rhythm in the Zurich Dada Revolution

The drumbeats which punctuated Zurich Dada performances signal and enact the dismantling of the complexities of a culture the participants deemed wholly discredited. While the Futurists looked to technology for rhythmic renewal, Dadaists sought a deeper, more indefinable rhythm to nourish a far-reac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inParagraph (Modern Critical Theory Group) Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 197 - 214
Main Author Gascoigne, David
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published UK Edinburgh University Press 01.07.2010
Subjects
Cabarets
Dadaism
Futurism
Language
Linguistic rhythm
Literary Studies
Musical rhythm
Nonsense
Poetic meter
Poetry
Writing
Futurism
nonsense poem
simultaneous poem, multilingualism
Dada
metrics
rhythm
drumbeat
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Summary:The drumbeats which punctuated Zurich Dada performances signal and enact the dismantling of the complexities of a culture the participants deemed wholly discredited. While the Futurists looked to technology for rhythmic renewal, Dadaists sought a deeper, more indefinable rhythm to nourish a far-reaching renaissance of human values. Study of 'nonsensical' texts by Huelsenbeck, Ball and Tzara reveals some traditional metrical elements. However, in Dadaist performance pieces in an imaginary hybrid language or in a 'simultaneous poem' in three languages at once, such elements are freed from traditional associations and become multiple, complex and ambiguous in performance and reception.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0264-8334
1750-0176
DOI:10.3366/para.2010.0004