This article examines Wyndham Lewis’ The Caliph's Design alongside German Expressionist architectural design during the years 1918–1920, suggesting Bruno Taut for the role of Lewis’ sought-after ...‘single architect with brains’. By analysing the intellectual and ideological context of an architectural project with similar concerns and prejudices it is possible to see Lewis’ post-war pamphlet as an exceptional phase in his writing, in which he teeters on the brink of approving political engagement for the arts and echoes some of the ideas promoted by Germany's Activist programme. These images of revolutionary utopian architecture can then be traced to Lewis’ construction of the Magnetic City in The Human Age .
From the earliest reviews of 'Nightwood' by Graham Greene and T.S. Eliot, Barnes criticism has repeatedly acknowledged the novel's affinity with seventeenth century aesthetic forms. Not until Monika ...Kaup's 2005 article, in which she examines Barnes' writing in the context of a Latin-American baroque, and suggests 'Ladies Almanack' as a parody of baroque hagiography, was this connection given detailed consideration. This article will examine the forms and techniques of 'Nightwood' in the context of the German seventeenth century Trauerspiel, or play of mourning, placing Barnes' writing within a broader European baroque context. In an early section of discarded manuscript for the novel, Barnes introduces the idea of a 'baroque sentence', a form of expression characteristic of a particular era. Paying close attention to Walter Benjamin's study 'The Origin of German Tragic Drama', I will consider the character of Robin Vote as a signifier situated between symbol and allegory, Barnes' preoccupation with the fractured human body, and the enigmatic figure of Dr O'Connor. If 'Nightwood' is to be considered as a modern counterpart to the Trauerspiel in many of its details, I will conclude by asking how does this affect Barnes' identity as a modern writer?
This thesis considers the impact of German Expressionism on Anglo-American writers by focusing on the work of Wyndham Lewis and Djuna Barnes. Chapter One analyses Wassily Kandinsky's play Yellow ...Sound, and his theories of art, alongside Wyndham Lewis' Vorticist drama Enemy of the Stars. I trace similarities between the techniques used by both writers to develop awareness of spatial composition and non- representational form. Chapter Two rejoins Lewis in 1919 as he approaches the topic of art's potential to rehabilitate a war-torn society, and I argue that an examination of the work of Expressionist architects such as Bruno Taut and Paul Scheerbart allows insights into a particularly unusual moment in Lewis's career. By analysing the intellectual and ideological context of an architectural project with similar concerns, prejudices and goals, it is possible to see Lewis' pamphlet as an exceptional phase in his writing in which he teeters on the brink of approving political engagement for the arts and echoes many of the ideas promoted by Germany's Activist programme. These images of a revolutionary utopian architecture can be traced to Lewis' construction of the Magnetic City in The Human Age. Chapters Three and Four explore Djuna Barnes' novel Nightwood in the context of Waiter Benjamin's The Origin of German Tragic Drama, acknowledging connections between seventeenth-century and Expressionist aesthetic forms at the time of Barnes' arrival in Berlin. Chapter Five considers the details of the Weimar stage and Schrei performance techniques and their particular significance for Barnes' portrayal of Dr. O'Connor and Robin Vote. The study concludes by reappraising the connections discovered between modernism and Expressionism in the context of Georg Lukacs' critique of the movment.
This chapter will argue that many of Nightwood’s most distinctive and enigmatic qualities – its presentation of voice and gesture – can be better understood through a study of Expressionist dramas as ...they appeared on the post-war German stage. These affinities between Barnes’ writing and Expressionism can be applied to more than the style and structure of her novel – they shed light on her particular view of human identity and her sense of man’s ability to communicate in a post-lapsarian world. The origin of the Schrei Expressionist vocal performance has been traced to the baroque view of man as a creature trapped between a spiritual and a primitively animal nature, an interpretation that is found in many seventeenth-century sources from the Trauerspiel to the philosophy of Blaise Pascal. This tension or split produces the intensity of Expressionist performance and this in turn culminates in the ‘’Schrei’ or scream. I question what happens to our understanding of Nightwood when examined in the context of this style of theatre, and its baroque heritage.
Conclusion Armond, Kate
Modernism and the Theatre of the Baroque,
01/2018
Book Chapter
To examine these particular writers and their work is to see baroque modernism as an aesthetic of human embodiment. That body may fracture, stand transfixed, move with exceptional grace and beauty, ...or spill over into other bodies, but it remains inextricably bound to the world of matter. In this bias, baroque modernism challenges the ability of the spoken and written word to capture and convey truth and sets itself apart from many examples of early and high modernist innovation. The manifestos of Vorticism, Futurism and Die Brucke had matched bold aims with bold print, as they privileged the printed word, making it a key part of experiment and expression. Marinetti’s visual disruptions of typography and syntax led him to favour nouns at the expense of verbs and adjectives, and he believed that he could convey meaning simply through the scale of his typography and its position on the page.
