Neo-Avant-Gardes: Post-War Literary Experiments Across Borders

This book investigates the forms in which the avant-garde returns after the Second World War, re-inventing itself without losing its affinity with historical avant-garde currents. It provides a multi-faceted account of diverse group and trends, such as the New Realists, Black Arts Movement, Labris, and the Vienna Group, and focuses on specific techniques and genres.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 424 pages
Publication date: 16 August 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

This comprehensive transnational study delves into the realm of post-war literary experiments across Europe and the Americas, offering a clear conceptual framework, a well-defined methodology, and a diverse array of international case studies. It introduces the reader to significant experimental authors and avant-garde traditions, often overlooked in scholarly discourse, while highlighting their transnational and interartistic origins. By placing new figures on the literary map and re-evaluating established writers, the book charts the ways in which the avant-garde reemerges after the Second World War.

The book explores the forms in which the avant-garde manifests itself after the Second World War, while maintaining its connection to historical avant-garde currents like surrealism and futurism. It examines the international significance of the concept of neo-avant-garde for the study of post-war literary innovations, encompassing a wide range of cases from North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Austria, France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Each of the twenty-one newly commissioned chapters combines theoretical reflection with practical analysis, providing a multi-faceted account of diverse groupings and trends such as the New Realists, the Black Arts Movement, Labris, and the Vienna Group.

The chapters also focus on a diverse range of authors, including Pierre Alferi, Amiri Baraka, Konrad Bayer, Mario Bellatin, Kamau Brathwaite, and Anna Kavan. They explore specific techniques such as erasure, lyricization, and montage, as well as genres such as comic books, experimental fiction, and visual poetry. Through its comprehensive approach, this book offers valuable insights into the complexities of post-war literary experimentation and its global impact. It serves as a methodological foundation for further investigations into the avant-garde, contributing to our understanding of the rich and diverse artistic landscape of the post-war era.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474486101