The Dada Market: An Anthology of Poetry

by Willard Bohn (Translator)

Willard Bohn’s collection of Dada poetry is the most comprehensive ever compiled. Forty-two poets writing in seven different languages (French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, and Dutch) are presented in a bilingual format, where appropriate, with the original text and its English translation on facing pages. The collection, which opens with a critical and historical introduction, spans the years from 1914 to 1923 and includes such poets as Walter Conrad Arensberg, André Breton, Malcolm Cowley, Max Ernst, Mina Loy, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Kurt Schwitters, and Tristan Tzara. Twelve works by ten Dada visual artists (six of whom are also represented by their poetry) illustrate the book. Dada’s overriding concern was liberty—social, moral, artistic, and intellectual. While rebelling against bourgeois values and all forms of authority, the Dadaists venerated scandalous behavior, spontaneity, and a general joie de vivre. Their adherents questioned the basic postulates of rationalism and humanism as few had done before. In trying to strip artistic expression down to its bare essentials, these writers often created works that were experiments in sound or typography.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[তানজীম রহমান · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire premise of Dada feels a little flawed.

One of humanity's defining traits I'd say is to project meaning onto the meaningless. Take the entire universe, for example: a structure governed by fundamental randomness, a structure that we dress up in various types of order. These patterns of order only make sense to a human mind. But they are the most treasured, most important things to us all.

One of the fields that live and die by human subjectivity is art. 'Art' is the label we give to objects that we think are made for projecting meaning onto. The artist, being human, can't help but consciously or subconsciously insert meaning into her work. The spectator, being human, can't help but consciously or subconsciously seek a meaning in an object that has been labeled 'Art', or 'put in an art context.'

So the idea of anti-art is somewhat of a ridiculous oxymoron.

But maybe that's the Dada of it all?

The poems in this book are really fun btw.

[Algernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more comprehensive international collections of dada poetry illustrated with small prints of dada visual works. It may comprehensive to a fault, as the selection is of uneven interest.

[EIJANDOLUM · Rating 2 out of 5]

The horizon sang to me –one night– its eternity.
— Gino Cantarelli