European Avant-Garde Movements: A Literary Revolution
The Vanguards
Between 1920 and 1930, a literary renewal emerged in Portugal, influenced by European movements. This avant-garde sought to break from realistic styles in art and literature.
The avant-garde encompasses various movements from 1909 to the start of World War II, driven by societal and cultural shifts. This era saw scientific and technical advancements, the rise of machinery, automobiles, airplanes, film, and studies on personality and the subconscious, influenced by Sigmund Freud.
Social instability, including world wars, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of fascism and Nazism, also impacted avant-garde poets.
In this context, the avant-garde, or ‘born-isms,’ emerged as diverse artistic trends with a common goal: to break from prior aesthetic norms, escape reality, embrace playfulness and provocation, and explore the irrational and visionary.
Formally, this involved a renewal of the poem’s structure, moving away from traditional stanzas and embracing free verse. Other formal contributions include avant-garde imagery, altered syntax, the incorporation of technical and scientific lexicon, the removal of punctuation, and the use of calligrams and collages.
Manifestos, theoretical writings by artists and poets, also emerged, shaping their conceptions of art and literature.
Among the European avant-garde movements are:
Futurism:
Founded in Italy in 1909 by Marinetti, Futurism celebrated progress, technology, speed, noise, and war. Its texts featured the destruction of traditional syntax, the use of verbs in the infinitive, and the elimination of adverbs and adjectives. Mathematical symbols replaced signs, and texts blended various types and sizes of letters, using white space and technical lexicon.
Cubism:
Born as a pictorial school in 1907 with Picasso’s “The Ladies of Avignon,” Cubism is characterized by an intellectual approach over the senses, fragmenting reality into lines and planes. In literature, it features non-linear narratives, mixed languages, humor, and visual elements like calligrams.
Dada:
Founded in Zurich by Tristan Tzara, Dada rebelled against all conventions, rejecting the artistic past and embracing the absurd, meaningless, and ridicule.
Creationism:
Initiated by Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, Creationism focused on creating images and metaphors without reference to external reality.
Ultraísmo:
A Spanish poetic movement that blended various avant-garde styles with a renewed purpose, represented by figures like Eugenio Montes.
Surrealism:
Appearing in 1924 with André Breton’s manifesto, Surrealism explored dreams, the subconscious, and irrational images, denying the real world and logic. It became a highly influential movement in literature and art.
Expressionism:
Emerging in Germany, Expressionism offered a subjective interpretation of reality, distorting words, shapes, and colors to express the inner world of art.