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Hugo Ball and the Fate of the Universe: Adventures in Sound Poetry
Born in the chaos of WWI Europe, sound poetry is a genre which defies common sense and interpretation, a poetic system in which nonsense syllables take the place of words. Hugo Ball, founder of sound poetry and the Dada movement, viewed his creation as both artistic and political. Ball's innovations went on to influence poets and musicians throughout the world, from the scat singing of Ella Fitzgerald to today's algorithmic poets. Hugo Ball and the Fate of the Universe follows author Lane Chasek's journey to write their own sound poem. Along the way, they face the challenge of piecing together sound poetry's legacy--how it transformed our relationship with meaning and language, and how language itself wields the power to both heal and destroy us.
93 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 6, 2020
About the author
Lane Chasek
6 books2 followersLane is the author of the nonfiction novel Hugo Ball and the Fate of the Universe, the poetry collection A Cat is not a Dog and a forthcoming poetry chapbook. Lane's work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Taco Bell Quarterly, perhappened, The Daily Drunk and many other publications. Lane is an editor at Jokes Literary Review, where he sometimes blogs, and is the founding editor of the sci-fi webzine Warp 10 Lit.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 3, 2021
My mind was blown away by the richness of language, it’s use for protest, exploration in sound, and the thoughts of this deep thinker. I went through so many interesting experiences including the confusion of the arbitrary meaning of sound itself. I recited aloud some passages and laughed at some of the language we take so seriously when they actually sound ridiculous to me. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone who would like to explore and open their mind.
July 9, 2021
What a cool book.
Part history, part autobiography, you get to hang out with the Dadaists, with Ella Fitz, and you get to take apart the sensory stimulus known as sound. Meaning too, gets separated from its signifier, and is inspected like the odd creature we all are. Chase’s writing is very relatable, very accessible, while still pulling down high-level stars. There are some sound poems in here that were hella fun to read aloud to the forest. A fine book, a fun read, and an elucidating text. Man, sound poetry, who knew?
Part history, part autobiography, you get to hang out with the Dadaists, with Ella Fitz, and you get to take apart the sensory stimulus known as sound. Meaning too, gets separated from its signifier, and is inspected like the odd creature we all are. Chase’s writing is very relatable, very accessible, while still pulling down high-level stars. There are some sound poems in here that were hella fun to read aloud to the forest. A fine book, a fun read, and an elucidating text. Man, sound poetry, who knew?
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August 16, 2026An obscure corner of art history, this book explores Dada Sound Poetry through its most famous artist: Hugo Ball. This author makes what could be nonsensical gibberish into a fun and digestible journey through babbling babies, speaking in tongues, international languages, jazz scat, and magic incantations!
“Sound poetry’s creation story is one of escapism, hope, rebellion, and linguistic liberation.”
“In his own Dada manifesto, Ball wrote, “Dada is Yes. Yes in Romanian [and many other languages], rocking-horse and hobby-horse in French. For Germans, it is a sign of foolish naiveté, joy in procreation and preoccupation with the baby carriage.””
“Da is an amazing word, so easy on the mouth that it’s often the first syllable a newborn utters. It’s the perfect affirmative.”
“It’s a phenomenon known as glossolalia or “speaking in tongues.” Delphic oracles experienced it, and so have shamans in the Amazon and retired housewives in Pentecostal churches all across the Bible Belt. In the book of Acts the apostles experienced glossolalia for the first time when they were visited by the Holy Spirit. In the apostles’ case, they weren’t speaking nonsense but known languages, but despite this, witnesses at the event thought the apostles were hammered, insane, or some combination of the two.”
“If you talk to members of certain Pentecostal churches, they’ll tell you that glossolalia contains the most vital sounds ever produced by human mouths: the language of angels. The stuff they’re chanting, the stomping, eyes rolling back in their heads: it’s all part and parcel of speaking that language. Of course we can’t understand it. How could we?”
“The first three verses [of “Gadji beri bimba”] all begin with some variation of “gadj-” followed by what sounds like a parody of a Latin High Mass, which isn’t surprising. Ball was raised Catholic and even returned to the Church after his Dada phase. So are these lines meant as parody? Or are they meant to put the audience in the state of mind of somebody listening to a Catholic Mass? It doesn’t matter since Ball’s cardboard costume and choice of sounds work wonders: we’re in a make-believe land where nonsense is Latin and a man dressed in cardboard is a priest. Whether sincere or ironic, imitation and imagination create an echo of meaning in meaninglessness.”
“The random dance of genetics and evolution could have produced something different, but humanity is what happened.”
“If there’s one place the influence of sound poetry can be felt, scatting is perhaps the most obvious. It’s just sound poetry set to jazz. And like sound poetry, the art of scatting can be deceptively simple.”
“A Word created the universe, but words, through unforeseen chains of events, led to propaganda, warfare, mass destruction, genocides, etc. Then a few people tried to strip language of its meaning to redeem the world, and what resulted was glossolalia, sound poetry, scat singing, etc. It goes by several names. Each version is just one part of the truth.”
“Sound poetry’s creation story is one of escapism, hope, rebellion, and linguistic liberation.”
“In his own Dada manifesto, Ball wrote, “Dada is Yes. Yes in Romanian [and many other languages], rocking-horse and hobby-horse in French. For Germans, it is a sign of foolish naiveté, joy in procreation and preoccupation with the baby carriage.””
“Da is an amazing word, so easy on the mouth that it’s often the first syllable a newborn utters. It’s the perfect affirmative.”
“It’s a phenomenon known as glossolalia or “speaking in tongues.” Delphic oracles experienced it, and so have shamans in the Amazon and retired housewives in Pentecostal churches all across the Bible Belt. In the book of Acts the apostles experienced glossolalia for the first time when they were visited by the Holy Spirit. In the apostles’ case, they weren’t speaking nonsense but known languages, but despite this, witnesses at the event thought the apostles were hammered, insane, or some combination of the two.”
“If you talk to members of certain Pentecostal churches, they’ll tell you that glossolalia contains the most vital sounds ever produced by human mouths: the language of angels. The stuff they’re chanting, the stomping, eyes rolling back in their heads: it’s all part and parcel of speaking that language. Of course we can’t understand it. How could we?”
“The first three verses [of “Gadji beri bimba”] all begin with some variation of “gadj-” followed by what sounds like a parody of a Latin High Mass, which isn’t surprising. Ball was raised Catholic and even returned to the Church after his Dada phase. So are these lines meant as parody? Or are they meant to put the audience in the state of mind of somebody listening to a Catholic Mass? It doesn’t matter since Ball’s cardboard costume and choice of sounds work wonders: we’re in a make-believe land where nonsense is Latin and a man dressed in cardboard is a priest. Whether sincere or ironic, imitation and imagination create an echo of meaning in meaninglessness.”
“The random dance of genetics and evolution could have produced something different, but humanity is what happened.”
“If there’s one place the influence of sound poetry can be felt, scatting is perhaps the most obvious. It’s just sound poetry set to jazz. And like sound poetry, the art of scatting can be deceptively simple.”
“A Word created the universe, but words, through unforeseen chains of events, led to propaganda, warfare, mass destruction, genocides, etc. Then a few people tried to strip language of its meaning to redeem the world, and what resulted was glossolalia, sound poetry, scat singing, etc. It goes by several names. Each version is just one part of the truth.”
June 8, 2020
Insightful and highly entertaining book about the history and significance of sound poetry. I'd never realized how sound poetry is connected to such a wide range of artists, musicians, and artistic movements. Chasek's writing is always engaging and personal, but there's also a playfulness in many of the chapters that really brings the prose to life.
July 12, 2020
Gifted writer and thinker. Great addition to a home library.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews