From Publishers Weekly
During what prolific translator and critic Caws (The Surrealist Look; etc.) calls the "Manifesto Moment" from the 1909 publication of the futurist manifesto in Paris's Le Figaro, to Lyubov Popova's suprematist "statement" the manifesto had a "madness about it," but always, even when positing an "us" against a "them," invited the reader to become one of the new breed. Most of the classic ripostes are here, including Whistler's "The Ten O'Clock," several essays by Apollinaire and Marinetti, the dada manifestos by Tzara, the Russian futurists' "Slap in the Face of Public Taste," Pound's "A Few Don't's by an Imagist" and vorticist writings, South American manifestos by Borges and Huidibros, Olson's "Projective Verse," and manifestos of negritude by Cesaire and others. Caws expands the definition of "manifesto" to include milder statements of principles (from the language poets, for example); some poems (parts of Whitman's "Song of Myself"); fragments from the writings of Cage, Duchamp and others; Oscar Wilde's preface to Dorian Gray; Poe's "The Philosophy of Furniture"; one of the few writings of Jacques Vach? Breton's inspiration for surrealism; Schwitters's offbeat "Cow Manifesto" and much more. Though the scholarship feels idiosyncratic, and there are nitpicks to be made about the selections, this enormous book is the perfect companion to the two-volume, international, 20th-century poetry anthology Poems for the Millennium, and is in some ways a more immediate and satisfying portrait of modernist poetics and modernism. (Apr.) Forecast: This book is a guarantee for university libraries, and it will be a steady seller via syllabi in 20th-century poetry, art, politics and history. Its size and relevance to art movements may inspire booksellers to stock it on art book tables; steady sales from the poetry section are also probable, despite the price. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Caws (English, French, and comparative literature, CUNY; The Surrealist Look: An Erotics of Encounter, The Surrealist Painters and Poets) performs an important service here with this anthology of artistic, literary, and cultural manifestos. The collection brings together for the first time over 200 manifestos, translated by various hands. It begins with English, French, Swiss, Russian, and Irish statements on Symbolism and extends to recent postmodernist declarations. The anthology includes famous manifestos on Cubism, Futurism in its various manifestations, Fauvism, Dada, Vorticism, and Surrealism, as well as more offbeat movements, such as Nowism, Thingism, Letterism, Giorgio de Chirico's Scuola Metafisica, and Kurt Schwitters's Cow Manifesto. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of modern art, aesthetics, and culture, this is recommended for public and academic libraries. T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The first anthology of its kind, Manifesto features over two hundred artistic and cultural manifestos from a wide range of countries. The manifesto, a public statement that sets forth the tenets of a forthcoming, existing, or potential movement or "ism"￯﾿ﾽor that plays on the idea of one￯﾿ﾽbecame in various modernisms a crucial and forceful vehicle for artists, writers, and other intellectuals to express their ideas about the direction of aesthetics and society. Included in this collection are texts ranging from Kurt Schwitters's Cow Manifesto to those written in the name of well-known movements￯﾿ﾽimagism, cubism, surrealism, symbolism, vorticism, projectivism￯﾿ﾽand less well-known ones￯﾿ﾽlettrism, acmeism, concretism, rayonism. Also covered are expressionist, Dada, and futurist movements from French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Latin American perspectives, as well as local movements, such as Brazilian hallucinism. Influential, startling, unsettling, amusing, and continually engaging, these modernist manifestos give voice to a fascinating array of ideas and opinions that will prove invaluable to scholars and students of nineteenth and twentieth-century art, literature, and culture.

About the Author:

Mary Ann Caws is Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. She is the author, editor, or translator of over forty books, including The Surrealist Look: An Erotics of Encounter and The Surrealist Painters and Poets.

FROM THE CRITICS

Gary Kamiya - Salon

...gathers together the glorious, the histrionic and the just plain nutty pronouncements made by various artists and loudmouths at the outbreak of modernism. It is at once a fascinating thread running into that visionary labyrinth, an inspiring reminder of one of the great, weird moments in human history, and a sobering monument to a future that never arrived.

Publishers Weekly

During what prolific translator and critic Caws (The Surrealist Look; etc.) calls the "Manifesto Moment" from the 1909 publication of the futurist manifesto in Paris's Le Figaro, to Lyubov Popova's suprematist "statement" the manifesto had a "madness about it," but always, even when positing an "us" against a "them," invited the reader to become one of the new breed. Most of the classic ripostes are here, including Whistler's "The Ten O'Clock," several essays by Apollinaire and Marinetti, the dada manifestos by Tzara, the Russian futurists' "Slap in the Face of Public Taste," Pound's "A Few Don't's by an Imagist" and vorticist writings, South American manifestos by Borges and Huidibros, Olson's "Projective Verse," and manifestos of negritude by Cesaire and others. Caws expands the definition of "manifesto" to include milder statements of principles (from the language poets, for example); some poems (parts of Whitman's "Song of Myself"); fragments from the writings of Cage, Duchamp and others; Oscar Wilde's preface to Dorian Gray; Poe's "The Philosophy of Furniture"; one of the few writings of Jacques Vach Breton's inspiration for surrealism; Schwitters's offbeat "Cow Manifesto" and much more. Though the scholarship feels idiosyncratic, and there are nitpicks to be made about the selections, this enormous book is the perfect companion to the two-volume, international, 20th-century poetry anthology Poems for the Millennium, and is in some ways a more immediate and satisfying portrait of modernist poetics and modernism. (Apr.) Forecast: This book is a guarantee for university libraries, and it will be a steady seller via syllabi in 20th-century poetry, art, politics and history. Its size and relevance to art movements may inspire booksellers to stock it on art book tables; steady sales from the poetry section are also probable, despite the price. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Caws (English, French, and comparative literature, CUNY; The Surrealist Look: An Erotics of Encounter, The Surrealist Painters and Poets) performs an important service here with this anthology of artistic, literary, and cultural manifestos. The collection brings together for the first time over 200 manifestos, translated by various hands. It begins with English, French, Swiss, Russian, and Irish statements on Symbolism and extends to recent postmodernist declarations. The anthology includes famous manifestos on Cubism, Futurism in its various manifestations, Fauvism, Dada, Vorticism, and Surrealism, as well as more offbeat movements, such as Nowism, Thingism, Letterism, Giorgio de Chirico's Scuola Metafisica, and Kurt Schwitters's Cow Manifesto. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of modern art, aesthetics, and culture, this is recommended for public and academic libraries. T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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