Zany Tzara!
Shawn M. Bodden* and Michael A. Chapman
Dr. James D'Agostino, Faculty Mentor
In the 1920s Tristan Tzara, avant-garde lyrist, essayist, and founder of the Dada movement, proposed to create a poem on the spot by drawing words from a hat. The Surrealist Rally he was attending broke into a riot and Tzara found himself expelled from the movement. Inspired by such riotous poetics we propose to conduct an interactive presentation and demonstration of Tzaras artistic philosophy. In addition to discussing the importance and influence of his contributions to literature, we will engage our audience in the construction of a collaborative Tzara-inspired poem in order to illustrate his ideas and to bring our audience to a better understanding of Dada through active participation. Together with our audience we will enjoy the value of the aleatory and "found" poetics of this fascinating Modernist and his circle first hand.
Keywords: Tristan Tzara, Dada, Creative Writing, Collaboration, Poetry, Interdisciplinary , Found Art, Poetic Rioting
Topic(s):English
Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 28-3
Location: VH 1304
Time: 10:00