The Cultural Politics of Paris Dada, 1914-1922

This dissertation explores Paris Dada in relation to the anarchist and individualist philosophies that shaped the cultural dialogue immediately following the First World War. Drawing on correspondence, criticism, periodicals and manifestoes, it argues that Paris Dada was driven by a vision of societal transformation through cultural upheaval. Though scholars readily comment on Paris Dada's "anarchizing" character, they simultaneously dismiss it as apolitical. This view originates in the assumption that anarchism declined during the war with the hegemony of Marxism on the left, and it has become axiomatic in formalist theories that analyze Dada "style" in opposition to Cubism, place it in a continuum with Surrealism, and ignore all three movements' political goals. Yet anarchism not only flourished in postwar France, it fueled Dada's debut there in 1920; Dadaist anarchism, in turn, became a central topic in anarchoindividualist debates. Chapter One traces the development of anarchoindividualism from its prewar Stirnerian origins to its postwar Nietzschean manifestation, and it shows how such theorists as Emile Armand, Pierre Chardon, Florent Fels and Marcel Sauvage narrowed anarchism's individualist focus to locate "revolution" specifically in formal innovation. Chapter Two reveals how this anarchoindividualism resonated with the writings of other postwar intellectuals who were similarly pursuing social change by marshalling creative individualism as an alternative to "propaganda by the deed." These postwar writers and artists wished to "construct" a new society, and they debated individualist theory to reconcile autonomy with social responsibility. Chapters Three and Four position Paris Dada in the aforementioned context. Chapter Three explores Dada's anarchist basis, its attack on artistic institutions and its promotion of Stirnerian anarchoindividualism. This cultural assault aimed at heralding society's destruction; thus, it issued a direct challenge to all constructive alternatives. Chapter Four unravels critical responses to Paris Dada's revolutionary tactics, and it foreshadows the internal conflict that catalyzed Dada's decline and Surrealism's emergence. Chapter Five examines Andre Breton's tense collaboration with Tristan Tzara, which forced the latter to reexamine his Dadaism, his individualism and his anarchism. This ideological clash, along with the Literature poets' experiments with "psychological automatism," transformed Dada destruction into a constructive anarchoindividualist model for social change.