Prometo Futurism and Spanish Literature in The C

Inte rnatLonal Futurls m
in Arts and Literature
Edited by
Gunter Berghaus
Sonderdruck
Walter de Gruyter' Bedin ' New York

2000
ANonnw A. ANonnsoN
(Jniversity of Michigan)
Futurism and Spanish Literature in the Context

of the Histori cal Avant-Garde
Introduction
Spanish literature in the years immediately following 1900 has traditionallv been
discussed in terms of two polarised corrcepts: the Generation of 1898 and
modernismo (not to be confused with Anglo-American Modernism). \While re-
cent critical approaches often tend to play down or even deny that such a
dichotomy existed, the two labels do still serlre to point to some maior trends
on the Spanish ltterary scene at the beginning of the centur\'. As regards the
former, this so-called "generation" was particulady concerned with social,
political, economic, philosophical, and spiritual explorations of Spain's past and
present, in part in an attempt to determine the best course for the country's
future. Many of these investigations and meditations were cast in the full-length
essayistic genre, although the novel was also important. As for the latter
concept, Spanish modernismo is a parz,llel version of the Latin-American move-
ment of the same namq French Symbolism and to a lesser extent French
Parnassianism inform both, while the foremost Latin-American modernistawrit-
ers - such as Rub6n Dario - also exercised a strong influence on their Pen-
insular counterparts.
In general terms, this state of affars continued through the first two
decades of the twentieth century in Spain. In poetry, modernisma predominated,
and while the best writers of the generation, such as Antonio Machado
(1,875-1,939) andJuan Ram6nJrm€nez (1881-1958), soon found their own per-
sonal voices, the styles that they evolved could not be categorised in any way as
a-vant-gatde. There were signs of innovation in the novel, particularly in the ar-
ea of metahterary self-consciousness, movingwell away from the techniques of
nineteenth-century Realism (a tendency that Spain shares with the rest of
Europe), but again there was no real vanguard spirit involved. In the theatre,
commercialism was the order of the day, and while dramatists like Jacinto
Benavente (1866-1954) produced plays that were markedly different from the
1,45
melodramatic excesses of the previous generation, they were in the main very
conventional and designed fot easy consumption by the bourgeois, theatre-
going public. The general tenor of these remarks can be extended to the other
arts - painting, sculpture, etc. - although less so in the case of the composet
Manuel de Falla (1,876-1946).
\Tithin this overall scene, the figute of Ram6n G6mez de la Serna
(1888-1963) stands out in particular, as one of the very few writers both inter-
ested in literary innovation with avant-garde tendencies and also alert to the
most recent developments in the test of Europe. In this sense, his magazine
Prometeo (1908-1912), his own unusual, genre-breakingwritings, and the hterary
club - "Pombo" - that he founded, are all highly important. For instance, the
"gtegoe(a"'was a minor genre that G6mez de la Serna "invented" (in 1,91,2), a
composition that, roughly speaking, oscillated bet'ween a short prose poem and
a one-line image. In the "gregueria" Ram6n (as he commonly referred to
himself sought to fuse humour, features of modern life (including technolog-
ical objects), and a new way of looking at things. He was also, as we shall see, the
first Spanish writer to take a serious interest in Marinetti.
1.909-1910: Marinettt, Prometeo and the Spanish press
Weeks after the Foundation and Manifesto of Faturism appeared in Le tigaro and
Poesia,a Spanish translation, entided Fundaciilnl manifie$o del Faturismo,appearcd
tn Prometea (Nladrid).l \We
know from Ram6n G6mez de la Serna's younger
brother,Julio, that Ram6n had been the recipient,like so many otherwriters all
around Europe, of a copy of the manifesto sent direcdy by Marinetti, which
was rendered into Spanish by Ram6n himself.2 Accompanying the manifesto, in
the same number of Prometer) was an aflonymous commentary on it, doubdess
also penned by G6rnez de la Serna.3 Here he praises proclamations in general,
and lauds Marinetti's in particula4for its disquieting and disconcerting qualities,
1 Prometeo (N4adrid) 2:6 (Aprll 1909), pp. 65-73. The Spanish text has been reprinted in
Sarmiento: I-as palabras en libertad, pp. 189-194.
Julio G6mez dela Serna: "Mi hermano Ram6n y yo", p. xi. See also Anderson: "Ram6n
G6mez de la Serna and F.T. Marinetti", p. 19. Regarding Marinettit vigorous and wide-
ranging distribution of his programmatic texts, see l.ista: Fwtaisme: Manfestes - Proclamations
- Documents,pp.19-20, 83.
Ram6n G6mez de la Serna: "Movimiento intelectual: El futurismo." ("Intellectual Move-
ment Futurism") Prometea (Nladrid) 2:6 (April 1909), pp. 90-96. The text is reprinted in
G6mez de la Serna: Una teoria personal del arte, pp. 79*83.
146 Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ...
shaking people up and stirring them from their self-satisfied repose or lethargy.
Indeed, at this stage, Ram6n seems heartily in favour of Futurism not so much
for the specific features of its doctrine (to which he barely alludes) but rather
for its general effect of fomenting outrage and turmoil, although two points do
draw mild criticism and dissent: Marinetti's use of "palabras artificiales, gruesas,
poco org6nicas, poco mamifens, como 'poesia', 'catttaremos', 'poemas"' artd
his scorn for womankind.a
Reports of this new and exttay^gant Franco-Itahan "-ism" also appeared in
a number of Spanish newspapers and other magazines. Enrique G6mez
Carrillo, for instance, wrote anafiiclein ElLiberal Q$adnd). Here he comment-
ed on the audacity of the document, admitting that in many quarters it had been
received with harsh criticism or mockery, but finding that it contained "Llfla
teoria de modernidad y de fuerza, que puede ser salvador^parala poesia"; he al-
so offered a translatton of Marinetti's "eleven points".s Around the same time
another Paris correspondent, Angel Guerra (pseudonym of Jos6 Betancort y
Cabreru),wrote a similar report for another Madrid newspaper.6
One of the most thorough treatments \r/as offered by Andr6s Gonzdlez-
Blanco in the magazine lVaestro Tiempo, where he provides an extensive com-
mentary as well as yet another translation of the "eleven points".7 He highJights
his differences with Marinetti - he dislikes the rigid enumeration of principles,
and he is most offended by the call for the destruction of museums and libraries
- but at the same time he allows that:
G6mez de la Serna: "Movimiento intelectual: El futurism o" , p. 96: 'Artificial, thick, inorgan-
ic, non-mammalian words like 'poetry', 'vre shall sing', 'poems'." Further commentary on this
article can be found in Bartol Hern6ndez: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna y el futurismo
marinettiano",p.2T; Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y politica (?)", pp. 33-34;
Lentzefli "Marinetti y el futurismo en Espafra" , pp. 309-310; and Soria Olmed o: Vangrardismo
1 citica literaia, p. 34.
'A theory of modernity and forcefulness, that may be the salvation of poetn'." This is one of
the articles collected in turn in Poesia (X4ilan) 5:3-6 (April-July 1909), pp.26-28 (reproduced
in facsimile in Villers: Le Premier manifeste dufutuisme,pp.IT3_175). Gomez de la Serna's and
G6mez Carrillot versions are noticeably different in their renderings oi the "eleven points".
Guerra's article was not collected by Poesia. The exact date of Gomez Carrillo's piece, and
both the name of the newspaper where Guerra's report appeared and its date, have yet to be
established. We know of the existence of the Guerra article through a number of
contemporary mentions, most notably by Gabriel Alomar (see belorr).
Prometeo seems to have been the only Spanish publication to otter a hrll translation, including
both the preceding matter - commencing "Nous arions veille toute la nuit" - and the
following matter - commencing "C'est en Italie que nous lancons." Indeed, not all of the
many different versions, in French and Italian, of the manitesto contained both these
passages; for full details see Villers: Le Premier manifeste dr fatudsnte,pp.105*125.
Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ... 147
The Manifesto of Futurism is admirably v/ritten. As a work of art,it is in and of itself a

marvel. I doubt whether Marinetti and his friends will ever write such a magnificent
Futurist poem as the ftnal paragraph of the manifesto. A11 the beauties of modern
life ate sung there in a supreme lyrical synthesis.8
Furthermore, Gonzillez-Blanco finds thatthe Futuristperspective coincideswith

many subjects that he has already treated or wants to treat- the industdal city,
smoking factories, railway stations, locomotives, automobiles - and that the move-
ment aPpears to offer ameans, an aesthetic, for adequately treating those sub jects.
To iudge by the reviews of Spanish books as well as the letters and other
texts by Spanish writers that appeared in the pages of Poesia both beforc and
after 1,909, Marinetti seems to have kept in quite close contact with the Spanish
ltterary wodd of the time.e However, besides G6mez de la Serna, we know for
sure of only one other Spanish'uriter, Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), who
also received a copy of the first manifesto direcdy; the document v/as
accompanied by a postcard from Marinetti asking for his opinion of it.10
Unamunot initial reactions are recorded in a letter to Gilberto Beccari (his
Itahan translator) of 5 March 1909, where he wondered if Marinetti did not have
something of the "farceur" and"cabotin" about him, and went on to opine:
The manifesto that he has sent me concerning this thing called Futurism I find
completely crzzy.It is of course a grotesque idea that a journal should found sudden-
ly and almost by decree a new htewy school. The journal Pouia itself seems to be
geared towards the exaltation of Marinetti and singing the virtues of his works.11
Gonzillez-Blanco: "El futurismo: IJna nueva escuelahterara." ("Futurism: A New Literary

School') Nuutro Tiempo (ldadrid) 10 (A4arch 1910), pp.335-349, reprinted in Ilie: Documents
of the Spanisb Vangward, pp. 81-95, here p. 86.
We find, for example, the names of the Aluarez Quintero brothers, Santiago Arguello,
Vicente Coronado, Andr6s GonzLlez-Blanco, Eduardo Marquina, Gregorio Marttnez Sierra,
Salvador Rueda, Miguel de Unamuno, and Francisco Villaespesa, and among Latin-American
writers Rub6n Dario, Enrique G6mez Carrillo, Pedro HenriquezUrcfla, and Amado Nervo.
See Liwak: 'Alomar and Marinetti", p. 586, note 16, for more details.
10 f.Inamuno's first mention in print of the manifesto is to be found in his newspaper article "El
trashumanismo." ('Superhumanism") Los Lanes de "El bnparcial' (l4adrid) 29 May 1,909, re-
printed inhis Obras completas vol. 5, pp. 877-884; Marinetti's postcard is alluded to in alater
article, "Sobre la continuidad hist6rica." ("Regarding Historical Continuity") La Nacidn
(Buenos Aires) 24 October l9l3,reprintedin Obru completas vol. 8, pp.474-481.. It is, of
course, very likely that there were many other Spanish recipients, as Bartol Hernilndez
speculates in "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna y el futurismo marinettiano",p. 23.
11 Gonzdlez Martin: La caltura italiana en Migael de Unamwno, p. 21,6. By coincidence, one of
Unamunot poems, "Nubes de ocaso" ("Twilight Clouds"), was published in Italian transla-
tion in the same number of Poesia (I4ilan) 5:1-2 (February-March 1909) in which the
manifesto appeared. Gonzalez Martin offers the most detailed treatment avallable of the liter-
148 Andetson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ...
Unamuno's first public commentary came almost three months lateg at the
end of May, in his article "El trashumanismo". Here he ironises on "this event
of extraordinarily transcendental significance, which will drive a milestone into
the history of human thought"," afldjocularly goes ofl to annouflce that he has
invented his own new movement: based on the German term ("Ubermensch")
that Nietzsche used to describe his "superman", IJnamuno has calqued the
term "trashombre", from which in turn he derives "el trashumanismo".
Unamuno returned to the subject of Marinetti and Futurism on more thafl
one subsequent occasion; in "Sobre la continuidad hist6rica" (October 1913),
he continues to be unable to take them seriously, referring to the first manifesto
as "divertidisimo" ("most amusing") and noting that "there ate some poor
fools who are going around over there now, who are anxious to create a ruckus
and who call themselves Futurists, abominating the past and history."13 And in
a follow-up article, "Culto al porvenir" [anuary 191,4),he continued in a similar
vein:
It cannot be denied that Marinetti, the Futurist, is at times afairly amusingwriter. On
condition, of course, that one does not pay too much attention to the things that he
writes. [...] His recipe is easy as it boils down, "pour lpater le bourgeois", to grving
people something to talk and laugh about, to advocating the opposite of what passes
for common-sensical. [...] His innovations, all of them in the artistic field, are per-
fectly innocent. Not even he takes them seriously.la
If Unamuno continued to take an interest in Marinetti and Futurism, even if

only essentially for their amusement value, then the situation was very different
with G6mez de Ia Serna. S7e cannot be sure whether initial epistolary contact
between Ram6n and Marinetti had been established as a result of the sending
of a copy of the first manifesto and Ram6n's reply, but we do know that ayear
later,letters were going back and forth between the two. As suggested above,
G6mez de la Serna vras alert and open to whatever was new or different in the
world of literature, and indeed he professed to wanting to include in his
magazine Prometeo precisely those writers who were "hermetic, shocking and
different and admirable", "the most decadent of the decadent, the most
extraordinary", and those who produced pieces that were "complicated and
ary relations between Unamuno and Marinetti, in the section of his book entitled "F. T.
Marinetti y el futurismo", pp. 275-219.
12 IJnamuno: "El trashumanismo", p. 878.
13 IJnamuno: "Sobre la continuidad hist6rica",p. 475.
t4 Unamuno: "Culto al porvenir." ("Cult of the Future") L"a Nacidn (Buenos Aires) 22January
1974, rcpnnted in Obras completas vol. 8, pp. 670-678, p. 670. For more commentary on the
subject of Unamuno and Marinetti, see Ilie: "Futurism in Spain".
1.49
abstruse."ls In one particulady revealing passage, he wrote of the plan to

publish "some cofltemponryltahan [writer] and [...] some cofltemporzLry Ger
man [writer], from among the new and the young, and it seems to me
extraordinarily good, interpolating them in the foreground among the
marvellous decadents."16 As the only other Italian to grace the pages of Prometeo
was d'Annunzio,two things become clear: the "new and young" contempo:ary
Itahanwriter is none other than Marinetti, and while Ram6n evidendy savoured
the French decadents (particulady those associated with the Mercare de France
group), he still perceived a distinct stylistic difference between them and writ-
ers such as Marinetti, a difference that could be emphasised by juxtaposing the
tu/o.
\We know of these letters ftom G6mez de la Serna to Marinetti, because the
former adopted the unusual pructtce of sending a Spanish draft to his
collaborator Ricardo Baeza (who published many translations in Prometea), so
thatBaeza could render the text into either French or Italian for forwarding to
Marinetti.lT What emerges from the letters, which date from the summer and
autumn of 1910, is that, over the intervening months since April 1,909,Ram6n's
interest in and enthusiasm for Futurism had, if anything, increased, and that it
was he who actualTy commissioned from Marinetti the second Futurist
manifesto that was to be published in Spain, the Manfiesto futarista a los
espafioles.l8 As G6mez dela Serna u/rote in the first of his letters
Suty 1910): "I
u/ant one of those lively, appalling and devastating manifestos",le and when he
did not receive an immediate reply, he reiterated his effusive plea: "Can I hope
for a crushing and scourging proclamation to Spain that will be both a lesson
and an ideal?"2O
Evidendy this time the request v/as successful, for by the early autumn of
1910 Ram6n was boasting to his friend Baeza that he had received a very long
and lyrical manifesto from Marinetti and was planning to produce a special print
15 Anderson: "Decadentes y j6venes nuevos 'interpolado s"' ,p.204: The quotations come from
three different letters all written by Ram6n G6mez de la Serna to Ricardo BaezaduringJuly
1910.
16 Anderson: "Decadentes y j6venes nuevos 'interpolados"',p.204. The quotation comes from
a fourth letter, also fromJuly 1910.
17 A full account of the manuscripts and of the circumstances surrounding this unusual mode
of communication is given in Andetson: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna and F.T. Marinetti."
18 "Futurist Manifesto to the Spaniards"; this is the text later known in Italian, in two different
variant versions, as "Contro la Spagna passatista" (1914, l9l9) and "Proclama futurista agli
Spagnuoli" (1915); see Marinetti: horia e inuenTione futurista,pp.34_/;0 and pp. 233-239.
1,9 Anderson: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna and F.T. Ma."inet:J,,p.21.
20 Ibid.
150
run of it because of its novelty and because it was worth showing off.21 Indeed,
such was his satisfaction that he inserted in numbe r 1.9 of Prometeoa note proud-
ly announcing the publication of the manifesto in the following number, and in
this note he incorporated his own translation of partof the letter from Marinetti
accepting the commission. Here, Marinetti promised that "I shall condense in
that manifesto, in a violent and decisive fashion, all my anguished obsetvations,
that I myself made ori an excursion that I made by car across Spain,
concentrating more than anything else on the tragyc aridity of your cenfial 'table
land', of Castile."22 ril7hile the tone and intention are interesting in themselves,
the passage is also curious in that it suggests that Marinetti had visited Spain prior
to L91.0, andthathe had made this car tdp through the centre of the country, a
visitwhich,as far as I am aware,is otherwise undocumented. Meanwhile, Ram6n
had sent a fanher letter to Marinetti effusively expressing his gratitude and
confidently predicting that the impact of the manifesto would go a long way to-
wards putting Spain to rights and setting the country back "on course".23
As had been anrrounced, the Proclamafuturista a los espafroles appeared in Pro-
metel,number 20 (corresponding to August 1,91,0,but doubdess published well
into the autumn of thatyear); it was divided into two parts, "I" afld "II. Con-
clusiones futuristas sobre Espafla", and preceded by an introduction composed
by G6mez de la Serna (using his frequent pen-name Tristhn), "Proclama
futurista a los espafroles por F.T. Marinetti. Escrita expresamente para Pro-
mete0."24 Ram6n's introduction is typical of his writing of the period: consisting
21, Ibid.; for the special print run, see note 24.
22 Anon. fGomez de la Serna]: "Un manifiesto futurista sobre Espafra por F.T. Marinetti." ('A
Futurist Manifesto About Spain by F.T. Marineti") Prometea (NIadrid) 3:19 $uly 1910),
pp. 473476, here: p. 474. The Spanish text is partially reprinted in Lentzen: "Marinetti und
der Futurismus in Spanien",p.69, note 15; for further commentary on the announcement,
see Bartol Hern6ndez: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna y el futurismo marinettiano", p. 28.
Number 19 of Prometel corresponded in theory to July 1910, but cleady publication dates
were lagging a few months behind schedule.
23 Anderson: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna and F. T. MartnettJ" , p. 22.
24 "Futurist Proclamation to the Spaniards", "I", "1I. Futurist Conclusions Regarding Spain."
Marinetti's Spanish text is reprinted in Ilie: Documents of tbe Spanish Vangaard,pp. 7480, and in
Bonet: Ramdn en cuatro entregas vol. 2, pp. 29-34. G6mez de Ia Serna's introduction is reprinted
in Ilie: Documents of the Spanisb Vanguard,pp.T3-74;Videla: El altraisno,pp. 175176; Brihuega:
Manfiutos, proclamas, panfletosl textos doctinales, pp. 89-90; Bonet: Ram6n en cuatro entregas voL.
2,p.27;Rozas: Lageneracidn del27 dtsde dentrl,pp.167-1,68; and G6mez de la Serna: [Jna teoria
personal del arte, pp. 95-96. Following the previously announced plan, Marinetti's text, togeth-
er with Ram6n's introduction, also appeared as a separately bound plaquette, with a front
cover describing the author as an "insurrecto de renombre universal" ("rebel of universal re-
nown'), and a back cover giving a list of Marinetti's works with theit prices in lire. See Ander-
son: "Ram6n G6mez de la Serna and F.T. Marinetti", p. 28, note 15.
Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ... 1.51
entirely of ejaculatory phrases, it melds his own, slighdy less up-to-date concept
of modernity with other elements that are clearly derived direcdy from
Marinetti. Thus, calls for a"Celebration with \Wagnerian music!", "Felling of
cypress trees!", "Masonic and rebellious camaraderie!" sit side-by-side with
such exhortations as "Stone thrown in an eye of the moon!", "consptacy of
aviators and drivers!", and mention of "electric snakes", volts, marconi-
grammes, aerodromes and spodights.2s
As far as Marinetti's proclamation is concerned, he tells the Spaniards that
he foresees a better future for them, but that serious obstacles lie in their path:
while workers and soldiers are striving towards this goal, they are slowed down
by "an extensive reatguaLd of women and monks" and sidetracked by lust and
by the consolations of the church. Indeed, Marinetti exhorts the
^pparent
Spaniards to abandon the "rregra Catedral" ("black cathedral") for the light
and dynamism of electricity (i. e. lightning), which on the one hand attacks the
cathedral but on the other will be the "sole and divine mother of future
humanity". He continues in an iconoclastic and anti-clerical vein for some
time, before going on to urge "the men who are fu/enty years old" to break
out of the church and discovet and liberate the Spanish land waiting outside.26
In the second section, "Conclusiones futuristas", the tone changes consid-
erably, becoming much less high flown and more pragmatic. Marinetti asserts
that "the progress of contempowy Spain will not be able to take place without
the fotmation of an agriculrural wealth and an industrial wealth" and urges the
government to divert money from the ecclesiastical establishment to "munici-
pal and regional autonomy". Cadism, along with cledcalism, needs to be
extirpated, but for the moment the monarchy is doing a decent job in this re-
sPect; only if it falls down should the Radical-Socialist Republicans take over. In
this effort, he sees as necessary the cooperation of politicians,literary men and
artists, and proceeds to identify eght principal "poiflts" or desiderata, including
the promotion of militarism and the destruction of archaism, "the methodical
and stupid cult of the past". In closing, Marinettt agaln predicts a glorious
future for the country, if it can break free of the strangle-hold of priests,
bullfighters and local political "bosses", to which list he then adds tourists.2T
G6mez de la Serna: "Proclama futurista a los espafloles", pp. 517-518. See Brihuega:"Bl
futurismo y Espafla: Vanguardia y politica (?)", p. 34 and Soria Olmedo: Vanguardismol critica
literaria, p. 36.
26 Marinetti: "[Manifiesto futurista a los espafloles]", pp. 519,527,522,523.
27 Marinetti: "fManifiesto futurista a los espafroles]", pp. 527 ,529. For further commentary on
Marinetti's manifesto to the Spaniards, see Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y
politica (?)", p. 34;lhe "Futurism in Spain", pp.202-205;I-Ettzen: "Marinetti y el futurismo
en Espafra", p. 310; and Soria Olmedo: Vanguardismol citica literaria,p.37.
1.52
C\eaily,then, Marinetti returns to a number of topics akeady treated in other

Futurist manifestos, but it is striking to see him talking about the contemponty
Spanish political scene with some familiarity and naming individual politicians
(Canalejas, Lerroux, Iglesias). Furthermore, there are some curious similarities
with the t'wo letters from G6mez de la Serna to Marinetti, in which he not only
requests a manifesto but also lays out in some detail specific features that he
hoped would be touched upon. Indeed, these "coincidences" cover such themes
as womanising and lust, monks, ecclesiastical mofluments, bullfights, lovers of
the past, and the aridiry of the Spanish landscape. \Mhat seems to be going on
here is a complex process of influence and transmission. G6mez dela Sernawas
cleady influenced by the first Futurist manifesto, and may well have had access to
other texts such as [Jccidiamo il chiaro di luna, Contro Wneqiapasrutista,and Discours
fwturiste aux u,lnitien; traces of these documents may be found in his two
letters to
Marinetti, urith additional, more Spain-specific material added by Ram6n
himself. Marinetti would then, in the process of composition of his manifesto,
have had at his disposition his own fund of Futurist ideas, some of them, as it
wefe, repeated back to him by G6mez de la Serna, but added to by Ram6n's own
critique of Spain, and it is hard not to conclude that Marinetti was guided, in part,
by this critique in his selection of topics for treatment in the manifesto.2s
As far as the reception of these two manifestos is concerned, they fell latge-
ly into a void. While Marinetti certainly caught the attention and piqued the
curiosity of several Spanish writers and journalists, reports of the first manifesto
and the publication of both manifestos in Prometeo hardly caused a ripple in
Spanish society atlarge or indeed within the overall literary scene. Futurism's
time had not yet come in Spain, and would not do so for a number of yearc.2e
Gabriel Alomar
One other article of spring 1909 also responded to the appearance of Marinetti's
It Figaro,but its tenor and content were very different from those aheady
text in
mentioned. The author was Gabriel Alomar (1,873-1,941), born on the island of
28 For a more detailed analysis of these cross-influences, see Anderson: "Ram6n G6mez dela
Serna and F, T. Marinetti", pp. 22-26.
Ilie, in "Futurism in Spain", pp.204-207 and "Echos futuristes: Espagne", p.201', argues that
Futurism's socio-politic al agendawas in many ways already "pass6" for writers of the Genera-
tion of '98, although he does allow that the aesthetic and literary implications of Futurism's
innovations would not really be grasped in Spain - except, one should add, by Ram6n G6mez
de la Serna - until 1919.
Mallorca but now living and working in Barcelona and writing under the pen-
name of Fdsfor. In his article "Sportula: El Futurisme a Paris", published in the
Barcelona neu/spaper El Pobk Catali on 9 March 1909, he went on the attack,
calling Marinetti to task for presenting Futurism as a flew movement when he -
Alomar - had aheady created it neaiy four years eadier.3o Indeed, the Mallorcan
writer had given a lecture at the Barcelona Ateneo on 18 June 1904 precisely
entided "El Futurisme", and the following year the text was printed as a slim
volume in book form.31 Furthermore, over the period 1,907-1,908 three journals
were founded in different parts of Catalonia with the tide El Futurisme.32
From 1909 to the present day, a sporadic polemic has ensued regarding the
paternity of the Futurist movement and the degree of Marinetti's indebtedness
to Alomar. It has been established, for example, that if Marinetti did not have
access to Alomar's Catalan text (which appeared "en plaquette" in 1905), then
nonetheless he rnust almost surely have seen an attrcle by Marcel Robin
published in Le Mercare de France in 1908 that offered a substantta|report on the
publication, although Robin did concentrate particulady on its socio-political
aspects.33 Lily Liwak has been one of the most vocal critics to propound
Alomar's claims, while Giuseppe Sansone has argued most convincingly against
any significant link3a The reprinting of the Spanish translation of Alomar in
30 Alomar was actually mocked by some other Catalan writers for making such a fuss, as in the
ironic, anonymous magazine article "Futurisme i vegetarisme." Papitu (Barcelona) 21 (14
April 1909); see Mas: DossierMarinetti,p. T4.
31 Alomar: Elfutaisma The text was translated into Spanish as "El futurismo" and presented in
two instalments in the Madrid magazine Renacimiento,which in turn is reprinted inlhe Docw-
nents of the Spanisb Vanguard,pp.35-72. The Spanish text was also repeated in a collection of
essays by Alomar published as Wrba, while the Catalan text was collected in Alomar: El
futaisne i altres assaigs, pp. 19-56.
Ilie: "Echos futuristes: Espagne", p.201; Litvak: "Alomar and Marineti: Catalan andltahan
Futurism", p. 599.
)3 Marcel Robin: "Lettres espagnoles." Mercure dr France 76 (1 December 1908), pp.557-562.
The first person to point this out was Santiago Valenti Camps in ldedlogos, teoiqanteslt uidentes,
Barcelona: Minerva, 1922,pp.287-296. See Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafla: Vanguardia y
politica (?)", p. 32.
Litvak 'Alomar and Marinet:d Catalan and Italian Futurism"; Sansone: "Gabriel Alomar e il
futurismo rtaltano." More or less in agreement with Litvak we find Cano Ballesta Literatural
tecnologta, pp. 67-70, and, partially, Ilie: "Futurism in Spain", p. 206,Ilie: "Echos futuristes:
Espagne", p. 200. Othet proporients of the view espoused by Sansone arei Brihuega: "El
futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y politica (?)", p. 32; Foleiewsl<t: Futuisn and its Place in the
Deuelopnent of Modern Poetry, pp. 107-108;Lentzen: "Marinetti y el futurismo en Espafra",
p. 311.; and Sarmiento: I-as palabras en libertad, pp. 30*32. Notably, even Alomar's modern
editor, Antoni-Lluc Ferrer, finds litde connection between Alomar and Marinetti in his pro-
logue to Alomar: Elfutuisme i altres assaigs,p. 13.
r54 Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Litetature ...
Ilte's Documents 0f tbe Spanisb Vanguard makes for easy access to the eadier text
and facilitates a side-by-side comparison.
As it turns out, what the two writers and movements share is not a gre tdeal
more than the common tide, for which Marinetti may indeed have been in debt
to Alomar.3s Beyond this, Alomar values tradition while also looking forward to
the future (which grows out of the past), and his pimary concern, as becomes
clea4 is socio-political in nature. Catalan autonomy, which is the fundamental
theme of the piece, will, he claims, only be achieved by adopting a progressive,
forward-looking, i. e. "Futurist" attitude. As far as Alomar's lrterary preoccupa-
tions are concerned, he engages in a good deal of name-dtoPPing, including
Goethe, Stuart MiIl, Spencer, Nietzsche, Emerson, Schiller, Walter Scott,
Byron, Musset, Hugo, Baudelaire, Carducci, Hamlet and Luther. However, his
own literary preferences can perhaps be better gauged from his sole collection
of poetry, I-a columna de foc @arcelona, 1.91,1), published with a prologue by
Santiago Russinyol, where the strong influence of classical poets and the
French Parnassians is immediately visible.
Futurism and Spain, 1,9 1,1,-1,918
In most studies of the reception of Futurism in Spain, it is suggested rhat,after

the brief burst of interest in 1909-1910, Futurism disappeated more or less
entirely from the cultural scene until the next upsurge of interest shown by the
Ultraistas from 1919 onwards.36 Howeveq the situation is not as cut and dried as
this summary presentation would suggest. For one thing, as we have aheady
seen, Unamuno remained in contact with Marinetti and occasionally u/rote
articles about Futurist activities and publications (October 1,913;January 1,914).
Although there is no hard evidence, it seems very likely that G6mez de la Serna
also kept up to date and probably continued a correspondence. Furthermore,
Marinetti's book I-e Futurisme (an early compilation of manifestos), originally
published in Paris by Sansot in 1911, was translated by Germ6n G6mez de la
Mata and Nicasio Hernhndez Luquero and published as El Futurismo rn
Valencia rn 1,91,2.
Above and beyond these particular examples, Juan Cano Ballesta has
demonstrated in the chapter entided "El himno a la m6quina: po6tica del
futurismo" of his book Literatural tecruologia (pp. 61-91), that a broader interest
35 Liwak "Alomar and Marineti: Catalan and Italian Futurism", pp. 585-586.
36 Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y politica G)", P. 36.
in technology and the Iiterary treatment of the modern v/odd was present in
Spain - at least sporadically - both before and after the first Futurist impact of
1909-1910. Cano traces this as farback as 1901, when an article by R. S6nchez
Diaz on "Las industrias espafrolas" talks of the need to write "the new poetry
of the factories" and "the great poem of the redeeming machin€s",37 and a
similar notion is taken up again in a subsequent article of 1,904, "Lirismos" by
Antonio Zozaya,which asserts thathterature should celebrate rational research
and that "poetry is made with ideas and, when it cannot, with nuts [and bolts]
and cylinders."38
Between the publication of the nvo Futurist manifestos in Spain, but appar-
endy without referring to either of them, in eady 1910 the well-known novelist
PioBaroja crittcized the backwardJooking Symbolist aesthetic still prevalent in
Spain and lamented that "nobody has spoken to us of the industrial power that
Paris represents."3e In 191,4, we find several examples of ongoing interest and
enthusiasm, in the related French movements of "Paroxysme" and "Dynam-
isme" and in Futudsm itself. FrangoisJean-Desthieux's Le Paroxlsme: Corusiddra-
tiont sur lapoitique de demain is reviewed, as is a study by Henri Guilbeaux on"La
po6sie dynamique",a0 while Francesco Balilla Pratellat 1911 Manifesto of Futuist
Muicians is translated and quoted in an article concisely entided "Futurismo".4l
orly a month Iate4 at the beginning of 191,5, an anonymous article with a
broader focus on"La poesia moderna y su orientaci6n" suggests that "today it
is all the fervour, tumult and violence of workdays, all the jubilation of the
sonorous shipyards and of the gigantic cities under construction, that sings and
is extolled in us", and that modern poetry will contain"abarbarous and brutal
beauty [...] with violent shocks, with unknown vertigos, with vibrations of
motors and smoke pouring out of chimneys, [beaury] animated by the frantrc
JI R. Sdnchez Diaz:"Las industrias espafrolas." ("Spanish Industries') Elexra (NIadrid) 5 (13

April 1901), p.1,29, quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural tecnologia,p.63.
38 Antonio Zozaya: "Lirismos." ("Lyricisms') Alma Espafiola $vladid) 13 March 1904,pp. 4-5,
quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural tecnologta,p.63.
Pio Barcia: "El espafrol no se entera." ("The Spaniard is Not Well Informed") EurEa
(Madrid) 1 (20 February 1910), quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural tecnologta,p.63.
Jos6 Subir6: "El Paroxismo: Consideraciones sobre la po6tica de maflana." ("Paroxysm:
Considerations on the Poetic Theory of Tomorrow') Nwutro Tiempo (Nladrid) 181 Sanuary
1914), p. 139:' Henri Guilbea\xi "La poesia din6mica." ("Dynamic Poetry') Nuutro Tiempo
(I{adrid) 188 (August 1914),pp.246-249; both quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural temologia,
pp.75-76.
41 Matilde Mufroz: "Futurismo." ("Futurism") Lira EEafrola (X{adrid) 18 (December 1,914)
quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural tecnologia,p.TT.The passage quoted is the eleventh and
last "point" or "conclusion", which exhorts the incorporation of all the maaifestations of
modern life into music.
156
rhythm of modernhfe."azIn 1916, an uflexpected reference by a traditionalist

Spanish critic,Julio Casares y S6nchez, to the "brand-new'Technical Manifesto
of Futurist Literature', where the destruction of syntax, the abolition of the
adjective, of the adverb, of punctuation, etc., etc., are decreed", demonstfates a
surprising famtltanq and anunexpected degree of penetration of Futurist ideas
and publications into the Spanish hterury establishment.a3 Finally, in 1918, on-
ly a few months before the emergence of a Spanish a.vant-g rde grouP, Enrique
Diez-Canedo offered a retrospective survey of the significance and achieve-
ments of the Futurist movement.aa
Futurism and Spanish [Jltraismo
The avant-garde,with the pantal exception, as noted above, of Ram6n G6mez

de la Serna, was vefy late in manifesting itself in Spain; indeed, in poetry, the
modernista style continued to predominate right through the second decade of
the century. As we have seefl, interest in Futurism v/as sporadic and limited to
a few individuais. The same holds true for the other ea$y a.vant-garde move-
meflts - Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism, etc. - that were springing up all
around Europe: in theit initial stages they bately registered on the Madrid liter-
ary scene. The situation began to change in 1918, when a number of foreign
writers and artists came to Madrid to escape from war-torn France, and this in
tufn u/as patJy responsible for the emergence of the "Ultra" movement at
the very end of that year. The Chilean creacionista poet Vicente Huidobro
(1,893-1,948) was the principal, although certainly not sole, inspiration for the
ultraistas, and they were led by the Spanish writer Rafael Cansinos-Ass6ns
(1883-1964). The "IJItra" movement stafted out chiefly as a reaction to
Romantic and modernista styles (modernismr catt in many ways be seen as a
continuation of Romanticism), and it derived its name from the stated desire to
be ultrarromintico,that is, to go belondtheprevalent Romantic style. The adiective
ultrarromintico soon become shortened to Ultra, and the new altraista Poets
(most of them "converts" from modernisma) started to look abroad for models
42 Anon.: "La poesia moderna y su orientaci6n." ('Modefn Poetry and its Orientation') Nuestro
Tiempo (Nladrid) 193 $anuary 1915), pp. 84-87, quoted in Cano Ballesta: I)terataral tecnologia,
pp.77-78.
43 Julio Casares y S6nchez: Citica profana. Madrid: Imprenta Colonial, 7976, p. 171, quoted by
Soria Olmedot Vanguardismol mtica literaia, p. 31, note 6. At least in its Italian version, the
manifesto was hardly "brand-new": it was published in 191,2 and reprinted twice in 191'4.
44 Enrique Diez-Canedo: "El futurismo... a los seis afros." ("Futurism. .. Six Years On') EEafra
(N{adrid) 1,51, (28 February 1918), pp.11,-1,3.
Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ... 1,57
of up-to-date writing that would indeed leave Romanticism and modernismo far
behind. Ultra - or ultraisml as it was also called - did not really produce any
unique thematic or stylistic innovations of its own; rather it defined itself as
open to all modern influences, willing to absorb and assimilate them eclectical-
ly. In practice, ultraista writing, almost all of it poetry, relied very heavily on the
image, and in thematic terms sought to shed the fin-de-sidcle melancholy of a
Verlaine or a Samain.as
Ultra, then, was a kind of catch-all movement, and its compositions,
consequendy, were often cleady hybrid in nature. As already noted, Ultra bor-
rowed above all from Pierre Reverdy's and Vicente Huidobro's "cr6ation-
nisme", though flot to the exclusion of literury Cubism, Dadaism, Expression-
ism, and, of course, Futurism. However, ditect evidence of the ultrafsta poets
being famihar with either Marinetti's or other Futurists' writings is not very
plentiful. Alongside the much more numerous translations of French or Ger-
man texts, we find just two pieces by Marinetti.a6 The first is "La canci6n del
autom6vil" ('A l'Automobile" from La Wlle cbarnelle), translated by Miguel
Romero Marttnez, in the magazine Grecia (Seville) of 30 April 1,919, and
accompanied by a note on "Marinetti: The Style and the Man", written by Pedro
Luis de Galvez.aT Here, he recounts a visit shordy before the war to Marinettit
house on the Corso Yeneziain Milan, and while describing himself as an admir-
er of Marinetti's brilliantwork, Gdkez comments on the apparent contradiction
between, on the one hand, the sumptuousness of the Casa Rossa's furnishings
and the elegant stylishness of Marinetti's maflner of dress and, on the other
hand, Futurism's avowed iconoclastic aims. Romero Marrtnez also read his
translation of 'A l'Automobile" at the first ultraista celebratiorr, or soirde,which
was held in the Seville Ateneo onZMay 191,9.48
The second piece is entided simply "Uflapdgqna de Marinetti" ('A Page of
Marinetti") and offers a translatton of "Quattro piani di sensualid d'uno
stabilimento di bagni" as "Los 4 pisos de un establecimiento de bafros" ("The
Four Storeys of a Baths Establishment"); this is part of the sectio n"5 Anima"
45 The fundamental study of Ultra continues to be Videla: El ultraismo. Also worth consulting
areBarteraL6pez: El ultraismo de Seuilla; Bernal: El ultraisrno: 2Historia de unfracaso?; Bernal:
"Los frutos de la vanguardia hist6rica"; Bonet and P6rcz: El ultraismo 1 las artu plisticas
(especially the section by Bonet: "Baedeker del ultraismo", pp. 9-59); Fuentes Floddo: Poesias
1t podtica del ulhaisno; and de Torre: Historia de las literataras de uanguardia (chapter on "IJltraismo"
in vol. 2,pp.171-288).
46 See Gallego Roca: Poesia irrportada, for a complete listing of translations.
47 "Marinetti: El estilo y el hombre." Grecia (Seville) 2:1,4 (30 April 1919), pp.6-7. The text of
the note is reproduced in Barrera L6pez: El ultraismo dr Seuilla vol. 1, pp.207-208.
Videla: El ultraisruo,p.T4 (and p. 100, note 15).
from 8 anime in una bomba (N4ilan: Edizioni Futuriste di "Poesia", 1.91,9).4e The
translation, and a preceding introductory rrote, are both by Guillermo de Torre,
and they appeared rn Grecia Q{adrid) 3:45 (1, JuLy 1,920), pp. 1,2-13. The note
contains an invitation to the readet to read the text in reverse order, and in addi-
tion, de Torre suggests that, with the recent publication of the French collec-
tion of his manifestos (i. e. Les Mots en libertdfwtuistes [1,91,9]),s0 Marinetti has re-
gained topicality by standing for resistance against what de Totre describes as
certain regressive tendencies in French Cubism.sl
As far as other indications of a Futurist presence are concerned, a declara-
tion of intent rather than achievement is to be found in the sole number of one
of the ultraitta "litde magazines", Reflector (Nladrid), published in December
L920: on its back cover it gives a list of collaborators, among whom we find not
only Marinetti, but also Soffici and Papini. However, given the brief existence
of the journal, this may have been litde more than wishful thinking.52 At least
three more articles about Futurism appeared in the periodical press during the
period of Ultra (approximately 1,91,9-1923). A piece by Mauricio Bacatisse, a
young poet himself on the fringes of the ultraista movement, reacts to two
manifestos published in spring 1920: Contro tutti i itorni in pittara, signed by
Dudreville, Funi, Russolo and Sironi, and Contro il lassofemminileby Marinetti.53
The purpose of the first vras to remind people that they, the Futurists, were the
originators of both Futurist and Cubist art, and also to take stock of their
progress to date. Bacarisse agrees with them that they have only fulfilled half
their mission: they have succeeded in pulling apafttheir subjects, but not in re-
constituting them artistically. As for Marinetti, Bacarisse seems to approve of
the diatribe, although it is hard to say whether there is not a vein of subde irony
49 Gallego Roca: Poesia importada, p. 191.

50 Lu Mots en libertdfutuistesbasicalTy contains three manifestos plus a number of examples of
parole in libertipatinto ptactice. The manifestos (in their Italian originals) arc Manifesto temico
della letteratura futuista (1912) plus Risposte alle obieqioni (1,912); Distru4fone della intassi -
ImmaginaTione senqafli - Parole in liberti (1913); and I-n splendore geometrico e meccanico e la sensibiliti
numeica (1914). Lista provides full details of their adaptation in his introduction to the 1987
reprint of l-es Mots en liben6.
51 In addition to the two texts iust described, Mafarka kfutuixe. Paris: Sansot, 1909 was trans-
latedat some unascertained date byJulio G6mez de la Serna as Mafarka. Madrid: Castilla, n.d.
52 Brihuega: Manifestos, proclamas, panfletos 1 textos doctrinahs, pp. 41,42. Another detail: the
ultraista poet Rogelio Buendia sent a copy of his book I-"a rueda de color (1,923) to Marinetti,
who acknowledged receipt of the same; see Bonet andPlrez El ultraiwol las artu plisticas,
p.262. Many traces of this kind must be presumed to be lost.
53 Mauricio Bacarisse: 'Afirmaciones futuristas." ("Futurist Assertions') Espafra $Aadrid) 271
(10July 1920),pp. 14-15, repdnted in Ilie: Documents of tbe Spanish Vanguard, pp. 97-101, and
in Brihuega: Manifiutos, proclamas, panfletosl textos doctinaleqPP.264-269.
runrring through his account.il Litde more than a month later another article on
Futurism appeared in the same magazirre, Estrtafia,ss but after that there seems
to be a considerable hiatus, until another piece by Guillermo de Torre in1,923.s6
Here, in a fully Futurist spirit, but without direcdy mentioning the movement,
he reaffirms that it is the machine age thathas created a new sensibility, and not
vice versa, and repeats that poemy, to achieve its highest possible authenticity
and modernity, must seek its subjects in the contemporary world. This may not
be as easy as seeking inspiration in memories and the past, but the true artist
must exert himself in the effort to turn current and evetyday reality into
aesthetic material.
Finally, we have the evidence of Spanish ultraistaverse itself, which filled the
"litde magazines" but did not produce many memorable collections of poetry
published as books. Futurist borrowings are quite plentiful, but their nature
suggests that most of the ultraistashad a relatively superficial understanding of
the Italian movement. Consequendy, the most obvious areawhere the impact
of Futurism call be observed is in the choice of subjects for poems: aeroplanes
and airports, traflsadantic steamers, locomotives, automobiles and trams, big-
city life, skyscrapers, urban streets and suburbs, cinemas, iazz bands, electric
light, guns and explosives, the telegraph,radio transmission, factories, sport and
athletes, are a)). topics th^tappear in poems, almost always either in a neutral or
a positive light.sT Of these, it would seem that aeroplanes and the modern city
are the most recurfent themes, although in many cases, of course, more than
54 Fot a fullet treatment of Bacarisse's article, see llie: "Futurism in Spain", pp. 21,0-211,
although Ilie perhaps makes too much of the significance of the piece.
55 Anon.: "Futurista, pero no mucho." ("Futurist, but not a lot') EEafia (N4adrid) 6:277 Q'l
August 1920),p.1,0.
56 Guillermo de Torre: "Valoraciones." ('Assessments') Virticu (Nladrid) 3 (December 1923),
p. 28, quoted in Cano Ballesta: Literatural temologia,pp. 79-80.
57 A very brief sampling of tides: Jos6 Maria Romero: "Canci6n del aeroplano." Grecia (Seville)
2:14 Q0 April 1919), pp. 10-11; Ernesto L6pez-Parca: "Los nuevos aeroplanos." Ceruantes
(Nladrid),June 191,9, pp. 99-101; Pedro Raida: "La ciudad flotante." Cruia (SevllJe) 2:"15 (10
May 1,91,9), p. 12; Adriano del Valle: "D6rsena." Reflector (X,Iadrid) 1 (1,920), p. 14; Manuel
Forcada Cabanellas: "Locomotora." Grecia (Seville) 2:32 (10 November 7919), p. 6; Xavier
B6veda: "El tranvia." Grecia (Seville) 2:13 (15 April 1919); Xavier B6veda: "Un autom6vil
pasa." Grecia (Sevil1e) 2:1,3 (15 April 1.919); Lucia S5nchez Saornil: "Paisaie de arcabal:
Anochecet de domingo." Grecia (Adadrid) 3:50 (1 Novembet 1920); Ernesto L6pez-Pata:
"Poemas urbanos: Amanecer." Ultra $vladrid) 8 (20 April 1921); Pedro Garfias:
"Cinemat6grafo." Crecia (Seville) 2:1,7 (30 May 1,91,9); Rafael Lasso de la Vega: "Cabatet."
Cruia (Sevile) 2:37 (31 December 1.919); Ram6n Goy de Silva: "Ondashefizianas." Viirtices
(Nladrid) 3 (1 December L923); Eugenio Montes: "Los poemas musculares: Match." Ceruantes
(Nladrid) Sune 1919), pp. 98-99.
one motif occur in the same poem, and generally we find the same typically
Futurist exaltation in speed, power and technological prowess.s8
Most ultraista poems were written in free verse and appear organised
conventionally on the pa1e, typi.rlly with stanzaic divisions; stylistically, the
chief influence on Ultra was the "ct1attonnlsme/creacionismo" of Reverdy
and Huidobro, with its pimary stress on the image as the essential (often the
sole) building-block of poetry. However, typographical experimentation, of the
kind first pioneered by Futurists, occurred here and there in u/traista verse, in-
cluding the expressive use of capitalisation, boldface, different sizes, kinds and
mixtures of font, words and phrases angled or shaped across the page, and
words and phrases spelt vertically.se Marinetti described this kind of innovation
in his manifesto Destruction of Slntax - Imagination witbout Stings - Words-in-f;ree-
dom of May 1,91,3, in particular under the category of "rivoluzione tipografica" .
He went on to develop the concept in Geometric and Mechanical Splendour and the
Numerical Sensibili4t of March 191,4, where he refers to "tipogtafia hbera
espressiva" arrd adds the new - though closely linked - category of the "afla-
logia disegnata".60 Spanish wltraistas certainly utilised techniques described in
these programmatic texts and exemplified in Marinetti's own Zang Tumb Tunb
and Durue (both 1914) and many other Futurist works, but exact lines of influ-
ence and transmission are less easy to determine. For instance, following their
spirit of a catch-all eclecticism, the Spanish poets were equally open to the
calligrammatic innovations of Apollinaire (which also affect the typographical
appea/znce of the poem on the page), and as a result many of the l.tltrafsta texts
involved actually seem to meld both ltaJtan and French influences.6l The situa-
My conclusions are essentially similar to those of Cano Ballesta in Literatura 1 tecnologia,

pp. 80-86; however, it seems to me that modern sport, which he lists as a third major theme,
while certainly present, is not as frequent a topic (see his study pp. 86-88).
59 Some examples: Joaquin de la Escosura: "Poema sinf6nico." ('Symphonic Poem') Ultra
(Oviedo), 15 November 1,91,9, front cover;Joaquin de la Escosura: "Loopings." ("Looping
the Loop") Grecia (Sevllle) 2:37 (31 December 1,919); Eugenio Montes: "Los poemas
musculares: Match." ("Muscular Poems: Match') Ceruantes flune 1919); Eugenio Montes:
"Paisaje versiespacial." ('Verspatial Landscape") Grecia (Seville) 2:26 (30 August 1,91.9);
Eugenio Montes: "Poema N espacial Five o'clock tea." ("Spatial Poem N: Five o'clock tea')
Crecia (Sev117e) 2:25 (20 August 1919); Pedro Raida: "En el seno de los modernos adetas del
canto." ("In the Breast of the Modern Athletes of Song") Grecia (Sevile) 3:38 (20 January
1920), p. 6;Jos6 Rivas Panedas: "De mi ultra: Apuntes inversionistas r6pidos." ("From my
Ultra: Quick Investment Notes") Grecia (Sevt)le) 2:1.9 (20June 1919).
The best study of this whole issue is offered by Bohn: Tlte Aestbetict of Wsual Poetry; here, see
p. 17, where he discusses the notion of the "visual analogy".
61 Bohn makes a clear theoretical distinction between the uisual poetry of Futurism (whose
techniques include "ipogra{talibera espressiva" and "analogja disegnata" among others), and
161
tion is further complicated in that the Chilean Vicente Huidobro, the single
strongest influence on Ultra, had himself absorbed the lessons of Marinetti,
Apollinaire and Reverdy, as can be seen in his collections such as Horiqon Carrd
(Pads, 1917) and Poemas irticos, Ecuatorial, Tour Effil and Hallali (all Madrid,
19181.02
Pure onomatopoeia is only found occasionally, for instance in the poems
by Xavier B6veda aheady cited: in "El tranyia", the tram of the tide goes
"ro-ro-ro-ro-ro" and "iiiiiiii", and his passing car ("Ut autom6vil pasa")
"Trrrcrcnr"; likewise, Vighi's exploding fireworks are rendered thus:
"Fchsss. ....11Pon!!."63 Similady, the thorough-going applica-
tion of the features and techniques associatedwithparole in liberli, as laid out in
several manifestos by Marinetti over the period 1,91,2 to 19'1.4, is, generally
speaking, very rare.6a Rafael Lasso de la Vega's poem "Cabatet", originally
composed in French, seems to meet at least some of the critetra,but this is not
at alL qpical of his output:
Souper-tango folie Flanbeaux [ser] 6tincelles
ff :;fi ji Jil;il il :#: : ff 111*de s,u,ip e s
rfiff
::Jff .1":*:'#:X"::."*
The Spanish writer most involved with Futurism, and who consequently some-
times proves to be the exception to the observations made above, was
Guillermo de Torre (1,900-1,971). To those who only know his later, critical
works, this may come as something of a surprise. In the fitst historical and liter-
ary-cnttcal survey of the ayant-garde to be published in Spain, Literaturas
europeas de uanguardia (1925), de Torre gives Futurism relatively short shrift (and
only gets round to treating it after Ultra, creacionisma, Cubism and Dadaism!),
the properly figuratiue poetry (i. e. calligrammes) of Apollinaire: see The Aestbetics of Wsual Poet-
ry,pp.5V51, and the comments on p. 146. In his chapter on "The Advent of Ultra", most of
the poems discussed by Bohn of{er amixture of calligrammatic representation, visual analogy
("analog1adisegnata') and expressive typography. The poems listed at footnote 59 seem to be
more exclusively Futurist in orientation.
A detailed study of precisely this issue is offered by Rutter in "Vicente Huidobro and Futur-
ism".
63 Francisco Vighi: "Fuegos artificiales." Reflector Qtladrid) 1:1 (December 1.920),p.17.
64 The manifestos to which I refer are precisely those thtee which appeated in French in Les
Mots en libertifutwristes in 1919, including the two frorn 7913 and 1,914 mentioned above; see
note 50.
65 Lasso de la Vega: "Cabaret." Cruia (Sevtlle) 2:37 (31 December 1.91.9); I quote the first five
lines of a total of seventeen.
1,62 Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ...
and even in his largely rewritten Histoia d.e las literaturas dt uangaardia (1st edn
1,965;2nd edn 1,970;3rd edn 1,974),where the section is a good deal longer, the
tone is quite harsh and negative.66 It is hard to reconcile this attitude with the
content of the poems that he published in Ultra m gazines between 1,919 and
1,922,most of which he then collected n Hdlicu (1923).67 tJThile de Torre's opin-
ions maywell have changed over the years, one comes to suspect that he was al-
so "covering his tracks" and seeking to diminish the evidence of the thrall in
which Futurism once held him.68
Indeed, in his collection Hdlices there are many examples of Futurist subject
matter, a good deal of typographical experimentation, and some attempts at
parole in liberti. S7e find poems entided "Al aterrizar", "Canto din6mico",
"Sem6foro",'Auriculares", "Torfe Eiffel", "Reflector",'Arco voltaico",
"Locomotota", "Al volante",'Aviogfama", "Madrigal a€teo", "En el cifiem "
and "Skating-ring" Iti4,u'and most of the other poems, with less "modern"
tides, are filled with a similar vocabulary. Mild forms of expressive typography
occur virtually throughout, while more striking examples are to be found in
"Torre Eiffef' and 'Arco voltaico". One of the sections of the book is actually
entitled "Palabras en libertad" ("\Words in Freedom'), but acarcftl,examination
of the poems suggests that it is actually constituted by examples of bothparole
in liberti and calligrammes.To The last four poems, "Sinopsis", "Cabel7era",
"Gir6ndula" and "Paisaje pl6stico" ate either pure calligrammes or contain
many calligrammatic features.Tl However, the first two, 'Aviograma" ("Aero-
gramme') and "Ondulaciones + Multitud" ("Undulations * Crowd") Gp. 51,
52),are much more cleadywritten under the aegis of Marinetti. For instance, an
epigraph from ZangTumb Thmb precedes the text of 'Aviograma",while a sec-
tion of the poem acanlly takes up Marinetti's suggestion of using mathematical
66 ln Literaturas europeasde uanguardia, the section "El movimiento futuristaitahano" occupies

pp. 2394.68; in Historia de las literaturas de uanguardia, the section now entided simply
"Futurismo" occupies pp. 83-179 of vol. 1 .
67 Although Hilicu bears the dates 1918-1922, only the first section, "Versiculario ultraista
(1918-1919)" ('Ultraist Verse-Collection') goes back to 191 8 and only contains three poems;
if of these were composed in 1918, it must have been towards the end of the year. Note
any
that de Torre's article "Valoraciones", tfeated above, also dates back to 1923.
68 See Cano Ballesta: Literatural temologia,p. 90, note 45.
69 "IJpon Landing", "Dynamic Song', "Tnfftc Lights", "Headphones", "Eiffel Tower",
"Searchlight", "Electric Arc", "Locomotive", 'At the Steering'S7heel", 'Aerogramme",
'Aerial Madrigal", 'At the Cinema", "Skating-Rink", pp. 13-14, 15,23-24,25-26,33-35,
3U39, 40, 43, 45, 5L, 7 7 -7 8, 1 04-1 05, 1 1 5, respectively.
70 See the chapter Bohn dedicates to de Torre in Tlte Authetics of Wsual Poetry, especially p. 1,72.
77 "Synopsis", "Head of Hair", "Girandole", "Visual Landscape", pp. 53, 54, 55, 56-57, re-
spectively. See Bohn: TheAestbetics of Wsual Pwtry,pp.173-184.
r63
symbols instead of punctuation: "Incendios + Aullidos * Muecas x Rascacielos

- Gerifaltes = Acrobacias * Plesiosauros * Androides x Arterias - Por gu6?"tz
De Torre can cleaiy be seen, therefore, as the Spanish poet (writing in Castil-
ian) most strongly influenced by Futurism, even if this did not last longer than
the approximately five years of the ultraista movement itself.
Futurism and the Catalan avant-garde
The Castilian wodd of U1tra, based essentially on the Madrid-Seville axis, and
with some offshoots elsewhere in the country, existed laryely independently
from the eady Catalanhterury avant-garde, centred on Barcelona, which started
to function two or three years before its Castilian counterpart. As early as L91.2,
Catalan readers could have read of a Futurist disturbance in a square in Flor-
ence led by none other than Marinetti,T3 and the Real Circulo Artistico of
Barcelona planned to mount an exhibition of Futurist paintings in late 1,91,2,
although this arrangement subsequendy fell through.Ta In 1.91.6, another first-
hand account of Futurism in Italy was offeted by Rafael Sala, who had travelled
to Florence in 1,91,4 and struck op a friendship with the Lacerba group, in
parttcrtlar Italo Tavolato and Giovanni Papini.75 \We know of at least two poems
by Futurists, one by Marinetti and one by Luciano Folgore, that were translat-
ed into Catalan: they both appeared in the influential Barcelona magazine La
Reaista.T6 Furthermore, there were epistolary contacts between members of the
Catalan avant-garde and ltahan Futurists, specifically between Marinetti and
Josep MaraJunoy, Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Sebastii S6nchez-Juan and J. V. Foix,
and benveen Gino Cantarelli and Luciano Folgore and Joaquim Folguera.TT
72 "Fires * Howls * Grimaces x Skyscrapers - Gyrfalcons = Acrobatics * Plesiosaurs *

Androids x Arteries - Why?."
/3 Miguel Utrillo: 'Ataque de Barcelona por los cubistas." ('Attack on Barcelona by the
Cubists') L^a Pablicidad (Barcelona) 21. 4pn1.1912, quoted by Mas: DossierMarinetti,pp. L4-1,5.
74 Mas: Dossier Mainetti, pp. 4345.
75 Rafael Sala: "Els futuristes i el futurisme." ('Futurists and Futurism') Tlterzis (Vilanova i la
Geltrfr) 18 (20 March 1916), quoted by Mas: DossierMarinetti,pp.l.6-19.
76 I have not been able to ttace exact bibliographical details, save that Folgore was translated in
1917 byJoaquim Folguera; see Bonet: Diccionaio de las uanguardias,pp.254,400, 518.
77 Anon.: "Marinetti en Barcelona: Relaciones entre el futurismo y el fascismo." El Sol Qvladrid)
11 February 1928, p.8; Bonet Diccionaio de las uanguardias, pp.254,554,557. During
Marinetti's 1928 visit to Barcelona, Foix was one of the very few critics to comment less than
adversely on him and the movement, distinguishing between Futurism and its manifestos
propounding risk, dynamism, eflergy and action (of which he approved), and its hterary and
artistic products (which he did not find convincing): "El Futurisme con a doctrina de
1.64
Besides Foix, Folguera,Junoy, Salvat-Papasseit and Sinchezluan,other Catalan

writers generally acknowledged to have been influenced by Futurism include
Viceng 5o16 de Sojo and Carles Sindreu i Pons.
Josep MariaJunoy (1887-1955) was almost certainly in touch with Marinetti
as early as 1.912, for a brief note in a m gazine that he directed, Correo de las
I-.etras dv de las Artes (I.Jovember 1,91,2 issue), informed readers that Marinetti
would probably come to Barcelo na thatwinter to give a series of lectures, a visit
that, in the event, never occurred.T8 Chronologically, he also seems to have been
the fitst to publish compositions where the impact of Futurism could be
appreciated: several of his poems came out in the first number of his magazine
Trogos (1916), and these and other pieces from 1.91.7 arc collected in Poemet i
calligramu. Despite the tide of the book, which suggests a preponderance of
French influence, Junoy in fact used the term "cqlligramme" very loosely, and
the poems are actually much more reminiscent of Futurist models, using
the technique of "ana)og1adisegnata" with such features as different typograph-
ical faces and sizes, words and phrases going in all directions on the page and
often ananged to make geometrical shapes, etc., as well as some well-known
Futuristmotifs (the electricarc,aviation, war,dynamism, energy, modernity, and
so on).7e
Perhaps the best known poet of the Catalan ayant-garde is Joan Salvat-
Papasseit (1,894-1,924), who was, from that group, probably the most influ-
enced by Fututism, both temperamentally and stylistically. His first poem of
interest to us, "Columna vertebral: Sageta de foc" ("Spinal Column: Arrow of
Fire"), was published in one of the several magazines that he founded and
directed, [Jn Enemic del Poble (An Eneryt of tbe People) (no. 8, December 1,91,7).80
Here we find the use of capitals, angled words, some mathematical symbols and
invocations to struggle, wilI, victory and youth. Another early poem, "Plinol"
("Mrp'), appeared in Feburary 1,91,8 in another of Salvat-Papasseit's magazines,
Arc Voltaic (Ekctric Arc). A commentary on social class divisions, the text is
composed almost entirely of nouns, with barely any adiectives or verbs;
furthetmore, it is streurn across the page, inhoizontals, verticals and curves,
composed mainly in capitals, and in three different sizes of font.81 "54045" ((Jru
combat." ("Futurism as a Doctrine of Combat") La Publicidad @arcelona) Q4 February

1928), reproduced in Mas: Dossier Marin e fti, pp. 1, 1,2-l 13.
78 Mas: DossierMainetti,pp. 4445.
79 Bohn: Tlte Authxia of Wsual Poetry, p. 86; for a detailed reading of Junoyt work, see the
chapter that Bohn dedicates to it, pp. 85-1,02.
80 Salvat-Papasseit: Poesie futuri$e, pp. 76-19,and Saludes' "Post-Fazione", p. 63.
81 Bohn: TlteAathetics of Wsual Poetry, dedicates a chapter to Salvat-Papasseit (pp. 1,23-145);his
commentary on "Plinol" is found on pp. 124-1,27.
Enemic del Poble,May 1,91,9) is a poem about a trolleybus whose majesty Salvat-
Papasseit admires.
Also from the year 1919 is his first collection of verse, Poemes eru ondes
hertqianes (Radio Waue Poems). It was illustrated by Joaquin Torres Garcia and
Rafael Bauadas, two Uruguayan afiJsts closely allied with the CataJan a.vant-
garde (see below), and had for a prologue a"Lletra d'Itdlta" ('Letter from Ita-
Iy") addressed toJosep Maria Millis-Raurell.82 This so-called "Letter" purports
to give information on Futurist goings-on in Siena, Florence, Rome, Modena
and their contacts with other European countries, and mentions by name
Enrico Prampolini, Giovanni Papini, Antonino Foschini, Mirko Giobbe, Giu-
seppe Ravegnanr,CarJ.o Card.,Ardengo Soffici and the magazines Valoriplaxici,
Noi and Lacerba, although infactSalvat-Papasseit flever actually travelled to Ita-
ly. The following year, inJuly l,9}},SalvarPapasseit published in looseleaf form
his manifesto Contra els poetes amb minilvula: Primer manfest catali futurista
('Against Lower-Case Poets: First Catalan Futurist Manifesto').4: Configured in
five "points", its proposals and exhortations u/ere, however, a good deal less
iconoclastic than most things that Marinetti wrote; nonetheless, it was repro-
duced and commented on by several Itahan magazines.sa
The year 1921 saw Salvat-Papasseit reviewing Marinetti's 8 Anime in una
bomba (1 91 9) in Prods and also the publication of an important collection of his
poetry, L'irradiador delport i les gauines: Poemes d'auarutguarda (The Port Lighthouse and
the Seagalls: Aaant-Garde Poems). Among several visual poems included, are
"Drama en el port" ("Druma in the Port'), which includes mention of an
electric arq transadantic steamer and a dredger (these being three of the four
^
terms that appear in larger bold capitals in the poem);86 "Passio nal al metro S.e-
flex no. 1)" ("Passionate in the Metro fReflection no. 1]"), which is set in the
Paris metro, Ln a trarn in a tunnel running under the river Seine heading for
Sunt-Lazare station; and "Marxa nupcial" ("$Tedding March"), which is set in
the circus and the cinema, with mentions of a spodight, the screen and pro-
jector, Edison and Charlie Chaplin.
SebastidL S6nchez-Juan (1904-197 4) was another enthusiast of Futurism, but
his achievement was not as significant as that of Salvat-Papasseit. Under the
82 Salvat-Papas seit: Poesie futuiste, pp. 12-15.

83 Printed in Barcelona by the Galeries Laietanes (whose bookshop Salvat-Papasseit ran);
collected in SalvarPapasseit Motspropis i altres proses, pp. 81-83.
B4 Anon.: "Marinetti en Barcelona"; Gatcia de Carpi: "Marinetti en Espafra", p.824.
85 Anon. [Salvat-Papasseit]: "F.T. Marinetti: 8 Anime in una boruba." Prla @arcelona) 0 flanuary
1921). Proa was another magazine that he had just founded.
Bohn: Tlte Au th tics of Ws ual Poetry, pp. 129-1.30.
e
Pseudonym "David Cristii", he published in March t922 a Srgoo manfest catal)

futurittawith the atle Contra lestensif del ffisme en literatura ('Against the Spread of
Spinelessness in Literature. Second Catalan Futurist Manifesto"), which
followed closely that of Salvat-Papasseit two years eadter. There is some
typographical experimentation in poems in his collection Flaid: Poemes (1,924),
and in 1928 S6nchez-Jaan ga.ve alecture on Futurism at the Ateneu Democritic
Regionalista of Poble Nou.87 This last vras the year of Marinetti's visit to
Barcelona (see below), and during his lecture in that city's Teatro Novedades,
Marinetti announced that the Companyia de Teatre intim, directed by Adrid
Gual, would give a performance of Futurist plays; unfortunately, due to
Marinetti's hasty departure from Barcelona, this was cancelled.ss However, in
March 1929 rhe Companyia Belluguet, under the direction of Lluis Masriera, pre-
sented in Barcelona's Teatro Studium a Futurist eveningwith works by S6nchez-
Juan and Marinetti, as well as Masriera, Miquel Clivill6, and Mirius Relais.
Futurism and Spanish painting
The "Catalan connection" againlooms largewhen we come to consider the

impact of Futurist painting on Spanish artists, although two of the three most
relevant here were only Spanish by adoption. Futurist influences have been de-
tected inJoaquin Torres Garcia (1,874-1949, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to
Catalan parents), in Rafael P&ez Gim€nezBarcadas (1,890-1,929, also born in
Montevideo, to Spanish parents), and, to a lesser extent and over a briefer
period, in SalvadorDah (1904-1989, born in Figueres, Catalonia).8e
The eldest of the three, Torres Garcia, setded in Barcelona in 1891 and
lived and worked thete until 1920. Evolving through several different styles
over those three decades, he developed a more orientation in the
^vant-garde
second half of the 1910s, his encounter with Barradas in Barcelona in 1,91,6 or
1,91,7 beinq crucial in this regard.e0 Torres's new aesthetics are expounded in his
Many of these details are derived from the entry on S6nchez-Juan in Bonet Diccionario de las
uanguardias,p. 557.
88 Mas: Dossier Mainetti, pp. 60-61.
89 Other names sometimes mentioned in this regard are the Catalan painters Enric Cristdfol
Ricart (1893-1960), Rafael Sala (1891-1927) ardJoan Sandalinas (1903-1991), as well as the
Castilian Celso Lagar (1891-1966), who spent a number of his formative years in Catalonia,
and the Basque Antonio deGwezala (1889-1956); see Bonet Diccionario de las uanguardias,
p.260.
90 The precise date has not yet been fixed with certitude: Brihuega treats the issue and oudines
the conflictingdata in his article "Saturno en el sif6n: Barctdas y la vanguardia espafrola."
book El descabrimiento de $ mismo (The Discouerl of Oneself) (1917) and, especially,

in his manifesto Art Eaolucif. Herc, some of the attitudes he espouses include
individualism, internationalism, "presentism", vitalism and dynamism, which
simultaneously suggests a link with Futurism and also a very close proximity to
Baruadas"'Vibracionismo" ("Vibrationism"; see below).e1 Likewise, from this
date onwards, his main theme in his paintings became - almost obsessively -
the city and urban life, partic"lr.ly in its most "modern" aspects. He was also a
close friend of Salvat-Papasseit and collaborated in his and other Catalan avant-
garde magazines.e2 An important art theorist and teacher as well as practioner,
his books Historia de mi uida (Stor1 of mJ Ltfe) (1,939) and Uniuersalismo constructiuo
(Constructiue [Jniuersalism) (1,944) are paricolr.ly remembered for the account
they offer of Barcadas' aesthetic theories, Barcadas himself having left no
explicit theoretical writings.
Rafael Barcadas left Montevideo for Europe in the summer of 1,91,3.
Arriving by ocean liner at the port of Genoa, he headed first to Milan (where
'we can place him in September 1,913), from there visited Paris (December
1,91,3), and then returned to Milan. From Italy he then travelled to Spain,
arriving in Barcelona some time before June 1,91,4. Barcadas was in Zarugoza
from the beginning of 1915 to the beginning of 1,91,6, at which point he re-
turned to Barcelona, where he stayed until the summer of 1918.e3 During his
travels in Italy and France, Barcadas famlltarised himself at first hand with
Futurist and Cubist painting, but there was a certatn delay before the joint in-
fluences can be seen in his own work. The principal catalyst seems to have been
contact, in 191,6 or more probably 191.7, with Salvat-Papasseit and Torres
Garcia, the two of whom were akeady friends.ea To what degree who influ-
enced who is hard to say, Salvat-Papasseit's blend of Futurism and ltterary Cub-
ism and Torres Garcia's "evolutionist" style both developing alongside, and re-
ciprocally enriching, Barcadas' personal new aesthetic, which he termed
"Vibracionismo". Attempts to define or analyse this style, which lasted
approximately from 191.7 to 1.922,vary. At its base are a number of features that
Cubist and Fututist art share in common, but there is a good deal of movement
Barradas: Exposiciin antoligica 1890*1929, pp. 19 and 37, note 28; also Carmona: "Rafael
Barradas y el 'Arte fluevo' en Espafra, 1917 -1925", pp. 1 1 6 and 1.37 , note 25.
91. Carmona: "Rafael Barcadas y el Arte nuevo' en Espafra, 1917-1925" , p. ll7 . The manifesto
appeared in Un Enemic del Poble (Barcelona) 8 (I.,lovembe r 191.7), p. 1 .
92 Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia ypolitica (?)", p. 41.,note 48; Bonec Diccionario
de las uangaardias,pp. 598-599 (for a listing of modern exhibition catalogues and books about
Torres Garcia, see p. 600).
93 Brihuega: "Saturno en el sif6n: Barndas y la vangoardia espafrola" , pp. 14, 17 and 35 (note 4).
94 Carmona: "Rafael Baradas y el'Arte nuevo'en Espafra, 7917-1.925", pp. 117-118.
168
and inner dynamism inBarradas'works, suggesting specifically the impact of

Futurism,es while some canvases are . also bear reminiscences of the
"Simultan6isme" of Robert and Sonia Delaunay. Barcadas exhibited "Vibra-
tionist" pieces in Barcelona on three occasions: in December 1,91.7, in a joint
show with Torres Garcia at the famous Dalmau Galleries; againin March 191,8,
tn an individual show at the equally influential Laietanes Galleries; and then in
May 191,8 in a collective show at the Palau de Bellas Artes.e6
B arcadas moved to Madrid in th elatesummer o f 9 L9,and continued p ainting
1,
in his "Vibrationist" style there, often reflecting the capital's street and,caf€life in
his works. He held two more 'Vibrationist" exhibitions in Madrid, the first in April
1,91.9 tn the Sala Mateu, and the second in March 1,920, at the Ateneo de Madrid
(which then travelled to the Dalmau Galleries in April /M^y).' He frequented
Ram6n G6mez de la Serna's "tertulia" atthe Caf6 Pombo, and soon came into
contactwiththeultraistagroup, thoughhis activeparticipationinUltramagazines
did not peak unnl1,921,.e8 Guillermo de Torre was particularly impressed by
Banadas:he dedicated several articles to his work,ee and his influence is also to be
seen in de Torre's own creative writings, for instance rfl a poem entided "lJltra-
Vibracionismo" ("Ultra-Vibrationism") thatappearedinGreciatnJune 1919 (not
collected in Hdlices),and in Hdlices,where de Torre aflflounced as forthcoming a
"Filrn vibracionista" ('Vibrationist Film") - which was never made.
The young Salvador Da[ was influenced both by Futurism and by Barradas,
although these factors'were often mixed in with a number of others and appear
only during a telatively short period, approximately ftom autumn 1922 to the
summer of 1,924. Dali was p^rticula;ily well informed about avant-garde artistic
movements both in Spain and around Europe, but Futurismwas one of the first,
if not the Frrst,ta attracthis attention.lm Similady, over the first turo years that Dali
95 Brihuega finds similarities between the theoretical statements attributed toBaradas and re-
corded by Torres Garcia and Futurist manifestos: "El futurismo y Espafra: Yangoardia y
politica (?)",p. 42.
96 Brihuega: "Saturno en el sif6n: Barndas y la vangoatdia espafrola" , p. 20; Carmona: "Rafael
Arte nuevo' en Espafra, 1,917-1925", p. 1 1 5.
Barcadas y el
97 Brihuega: Mantfiutos, proclamas, panfletos 1 textos doctinales, pp. 4041; Brihuega and Lomba:
Barradas: Exposici1n antoldgica 1890-1929, p. 306.
98 Carmona: "Rafael Barradas y el'Arte fluevo'en Espafla, 1917-1925",p. 127.
99 E.g. "Novisimas directrices pict6ricas: El vibracionismo de Barradas." ('The Newest Pictori-
al Guidelines: Barradas' Vibrationisrn') Perseo (A{adrid) 1 CNIay 1919); and "El renacimiento
xilogr6fico: Tres grabadores ultraistas (Mladyslaw Jahl, Norah Borges, Rafael Banadas)."
("The Woodcut Renaissance: Three >Ulrraisra'Engravers") Cosmdpolis (Xdadrid) 1,1,:41, (1.922).
100 Dali carefully preserved a copy of the volume by Umberto Boccioni: Pittura vulturafutuiste:
Dinamismoplastico.Mllan: Edizioni Futuriste di "Poesia", 1914, which has sketches by Dali on
Andenon: Futurism and Spanish Literature . .. 169
spent in Madrid (i. e. from September 1,922 onu/ards), he was in frequent contact
with Barradas (who did not return perrnanendy to Barcelona until eady 1926).It
is worth comparing paintings by Barradas such as De Pacffn a Puerta de Atacha
("From Pacifico to the Puerta de Atocha" - a street scene) (1918), Posada
("Tavern") (1919), andPaisqedeSans("SansCityscape"-adistrictofBarcelona)
(1,922), with Dali's production from 1922/1923, in particular such works as
IVocturno nadrilefro ("Madrid Nocturne") (1922), Escena de cabaret ("Cabarct
Scene") (1,922), Escenas madrilefrm ("Madrid Scenes" - a series of black-ink
sketches) (1,922) and Saeilos noctdmbulos ("Night-Owl Dreams") (1922),101 as well
as with slightly later canvases more frequendy cited in this regard, namely
Autarretrato can "L'Humanitd" ("Self-Portrait with L'Humanit€') (1,923) and
Autorretrato cabista ("Cubist Self-Portr ait') (1,923). Of this last painting it is worth
taking note of Santos Toroella's commentztft who finds the tide less than
satisfactory and suggests that the style is in fact more predominandy Futurist
with some Cubist elements or leanings, in a mix that in turn recalls Banadas'
"Vibrationis6".1o2
The mid- 1920s
Over the years L924 to 1.927 we find considerably fewer slgns of interest in
Futurism in Spain. The Ultra movement had just about run its course, and its
poets were either moving in different directions or dropping out of literary life
altogether.lo3 The Catalan avaflt-garde was likewise evolving and was at the
same time depleted by the eady demise of several of its most promising practi-
tioners. In painting, too, Barradas was feturning to a more figurative sryle,
particularly in portraiture, which is cleady noticeable in his work from 1922
blank pages and margins; this had been brought to him by a friend of his father from Paris,
probably in 1921/1922. See Santos Torroella: Dali residente, p. 35, and Ades, Beristain and
Fan6s: Dalijouen (l 9 1 8-l 930), p. 23.
101 Barradas is one of the four figures who appears in this last work (the other three are Dali
himself, Luis Bufruel and Maruja Mallo): Santos Torroella: Dali residente,p.31..
102 Santos Torroella: Dali ruidente,p.35.
103 One minor exception may be Ram6n de Basterra (1888-1928). Basterra spent time in
Belgium at the beginning of the 1910s, and was influenced by Emile Verhaeren, whom he
met and whose poetry he translated; a litde later, as Spanish ambassador to the Vatican, he
spent the years 1915-1,9L7 in Rome. Stylistically arather "late developer", two related books
of his of the mid-1920s, Wrulo: I-as mocedades (Madrid: Renacimiento, 1924) and, Wrulo:
Mediodia (Madrid: La Gaceta I)teraria, 1927), betray a number of avant-garde influences,
Futurism being quite prominent among them. See Bonet: Diccionaio de las uangwardias, pp. 90,
260, and IIie: "Echos futuristes: Espagne", p.202.
1.70 Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ...
(and becomes predominant from 1923), while the ever mercurial Dali soon
started to assimilate other influences, notably of ltabanpittura metafisica.
Furthermore, from the end of 1924 onwards, news of the recendy founded
Surrealist movement started to filter down to Spain from France, and for the
next few years in Spain, Surrealism would come to occupy the position of the
most discussed and most visible foreign avafit-garde movement. Surrealism,
then, with its pedigree in literary Cubism and paticulady in Dadaism, came to
be considered as "le dernier cr|", while Futurism, which in February 1,924
turned fifteen years old, was definitely "pass6".
Marinetti's trip to Spain (1,928), Ernesto Gim€nez Caballero

and La Gaceta Literaria
It is in this context that one needs to set and understand Marinetti's visit to
Spain, which took place in early 1.928, the main purpose being for him to give
a number of lectures in the capital and some of the other principal cities. On
Friday, 10 February l929,Marinetti arrived at Barcelona from Genoa, on board
the Franco Fascio, accompanied by his wife, Benedetta Cappa. The Italian ship
had been scheduled to arrive p.m., but rn factit was some three hours late.
^t7
As a result, Marinetti missed the overnight express tra:n that he was supposed
to take to Madrid, as his first lecture was scheduled there for 1,1, February at 6
p. m. Having disembarked, Marinetti gave some interviews to Spanish reporters
while he waited to clear port customs, and then he took a room at the Hotel
Col6n for a few hours, where around midnight he gave further interviews. In
consultation with the Italian consul, his first thought $/as to find an aeroplane
to fly him to Madrid, but there were norre available.1oa They then checked vad-
ous hire-car establishments, and at about 1 a.m. on the morning of l,l February
finally found a car to take him on to his destination. Setting out for Madrid in
the middle of the night, they got as far as just beyond Zangoza, when the car
broke down, causing another delay. In light of Marinetti's temporary "dis-
appearance", the first lecture was postponed. He finally arrived in Madrid at 11
p. m. on 11. February, and took lodgings at the Palace Hotel.10s These
vicissitudes are worth recounting in detail because they constitute the real-life
experiences that in turn form the backdrop for Marinetti's Spagna ueloce e toro
futuista (see below).
104 Most of these details come from Anon.: "Marinetti en Barcelona."

105 Mas: Dossier Marinetti,pp. 4749.
From l2February onwards, Marinetti's daily schedule returned to that more

typi.dly experienced by a visiting foreign luminary. A reception at the Italian
embassy, a visit to the editorial offices of La Gaceta Literaria, a gutar recital
by Regino Sdinz de la Maza, a tour of the Prado Museum (where he admired
EI Greco's paintings), a day trip to Toledo, an evening at a tablao flamenco,
and attendance at a bullfight (at the plaza Las Arenas in Barcelona), were
among his activities during the stay. He was in Madrid for scarcely a week, from
11 to 18 February, when he risked the return trip to Catalotia in another hired
car. In Barcelona he lodged at the Hotel Col6n from 18 to 22 February;106
thereafte4 there is some disagreement as to his movements, but it seems likely
that he travelled from Barcelona to Bilbao, where he lodged at the Hotel Cad-
ton.107
Marinetti's "offtcial" engagements over this time were as follows: (1) a
lecture at the Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, at 6 p.m. on 14 February,
under the auspices of the Sociedad de Cursos y Conferencias, entided "El
futurismo mundial" ("Woddwide Futurism'); the first part was delivered in
Itahan, the second part in French, with slides; he spoke for t'wo hours, and
closed with the recital of some of his own compositions; (2) the same lecture,
now entided "El futurismo en el afie y en la literattrta" ("Futurism in Art and
Literature"), repeated on the evening of 15 Feburary at the Teatro del Circulo
de Bellas Artes, Madrid, but this time with no slides; (3) a short lecture on 17
February to the "Literature Section" of the Lyceum Club Femenino, Madrid,
entided "La teoria del futurismo" ("The Theory of Futurism') and concerned
with the role of woman in Futurist ideals (Nlarinetti read t'wo Futurist poems to
close the session); (4) a lecture at the Teatro Novedades, Barcelona (the same as
that given at the Residencia de Estudiantes), on20 February,lasting from 10.30
p. m. to 12.45 a.m.; and (5) a lecture at the Ateneo de Bilbao, Bilbao, on 23
February.los
Newspaper and magazine coverage of Marinetti's trip and his lectures, in-
cluding intetviews with him, was quite extensive, but mosdy the tone of the re-
106 Mas who offers a very detailed account of the stay.

Dossier Marinetti, pp. 49-64,
1,07 Mas Dossier Mainetti, p. 64, suggests that Marinetti and Benedetta left Barcelona on 22
February on board the Conte Ras.ra, which took them back to Genoa, and he cites as his
source a contemporary newspaper report (I-z Publicitat fBarcelona], 22Febrtary 1928). How-
ever, the report may well have been in error, as in his introduction to Marinetti: EEafia ueloq
1 torofutuista, Victoriano Pefra clearly locates Marinetti in Bilbao at the Hotel Cadton (p.29,
note 19). Garcia de Carpi: "Marinetti en Espafla",p.823, provides the further details of a
lecture given at the Ateneo de Bilbao on 23 February.
108 Mas: DossierMarinetti, pp. 51-60; Garcia de Carpi: "Marinetti en Espafra", p.823.
172 Andetson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ...
ports ranged from the coolly neutral to the negative and critical. Nineteen years
to the day since the first Futurist manifesto was published in I-e Figaro, one of
the commonest opinions to emerge was that Futurism had served its purpose
and run its course , thatit was anachronistic and no longer relevant to life at the
end of the 1920s; there were also less-than-subde comments on Marinettit
ov/n appearaflce as a middle-aged, prosperous, bourgeois gendeman.l0e The
other aspect that ctopped up repeatedly was his connections with Mussolini
and Italian Fascism. Despite their tempestuous relations at the beginning of the
political movement, from 1,923 there had been an ongoing process of
tapprochement, and in those first interviews given in Barcelona only hours
after he had disembarked, Marinetti lost no time in pointing out that "Futurism
has been, as everybody knows, the cradle of Fascism." 110 In Ernesto Gim6nez
Caballero's essay, "ltaha y Espafla (circuito sin cornpetici6n)", from Jalepe de
meflta, he offers an interesting overview of this response:
Neither has Marinetti been held in very high regard. For two reasons: the young
believed that they were already above Madnetti, and the old, distant from him. The
liberal and intellectual organs of the country (Sol, Vo7, Reuista de Occidente) politely
paid their respects to the guest, but without wishing to have any cofltact with
"anything that smelt of Fascism", as Marinetti did. And the backward-looking
organs (ABC, Debate, and other Madrid newspapers) could not forget that Marinetti
was anticle ical, aniacademic ar-.d a revolutionary.lll
Positive evaluations of Marinetti were much r^reL Ram6n G6mez de la Serna,

for example, published a warm evocation in the principal liberal newspaper in
Madrid, El Sol, focusing on the first years of the Futurist movement and tracing
its literary consequences.ll2 Guillermo de Torre was credited as the author of a
fairly similar, litetary-historical piece that appeared in I-a Gaceta Literaia, but
close scrutiny of the text reveals it to be nothing more than a careful assemblage
of paragraphs from the chapter on Futurism that had appeared in de Torre's
Literatwras europeas de uanguardia.ll3 Since de Torre himself was in Buenos Aires
at the time of Marinetti's visit, we must conclude that he had no personal
involvement in constructing the "article". Ernesto Gimlnez Caballero
109 See Mas: DossierMainetti,pp. 28-30.

110 Anon.: "Marinetti en Barcelona."
171 The odginal edition of Jalepe de rnenta is from 1929; I quote from the revised edition of 1981,
p. 54.
1.1.2 G6mez de la Serna: "Variaciones: El h6roe Felipe Marinetti." ("Variations: The Hero Filippo
Marinetti') El Sol @Iadird) tr1 February 1.928,p.1.
113 Guillermo de Torre: "Efigie de Marinetti." ("Image of Marinetti") Lo Gaceta Literaia
(A{adrid) 2:28 (1,5 February '1928),p. 3.
Anderson: Futurism and Spanish Literature ... 1.73
(1899-1988), apart from masterminding the tribute in La Gaceta Literaria (see

below), also dedicated one of his Carteles literarios (Literary Posters) to Marinetti -
"Tois6n al futurista Marinetti" ("Decoration [awarded] to Marinetti the Futur-
ist";.tt+ This was one of a series of hybrid, multi-media composition (involving
black-ink drawing and much "col7age", among other things) that Gim1nez
Caballeto produced around 1,927 /1928.
Gim6nez Caballeto had been becoming increasingly interested in Itrly,
Mussolini and Fascism over the years immediately before 1928,115 so it is not
surprising that he should have dedicated space in the avant-garde literary
journal that he had founded and directed, La Caceta Literaia, to mark and
celebrate Marinetti's Spanish visit. The whole of page 3 of number 28 (year 2,
15 February 1,928) was given over to "Marinetti en Espafra. Letras itahanas"
("Marinetti in Spain. Itaban Letters"), and highlights included Gim€nez
Caballero's own "Conversaci6n con Marinetti" ("Conversation with Marinetti"
- held at Madrid's Palace Hotel), which protested the low esteem in which
Marinetti uras generally held, a "Poem^ de Marinetti" ("Poem by Marinetti")
entitled "Macchina hrica" given in its original ltahan, and a brief parugraph
entided "Madnetti y Mussolini. Telegrama de un duce a otro" ("Marinetti and
Mussolini. Telegramme from one Leader to Another'), which transcribed (in
Italian) Mussolini's message expressing fervent support for Marinetti in whose
honour a banquet was being held.
Three other eveflts connected with Marinetti's visit to Spain are urorthy of
mention. In Barcelorra,arr exhibition of avant-garde paintings'\vas mounted in
Marinetti's honout, organised by the Dalmau Galleries in conjunction with La
Gaceta Literaia andBarcadas' 'Ateneillo de Hospitalet". Marinetti was present
to inaugurateit on the afternoon of Monday, 20 February - an auspicious date.
The exhibition included works by Spanish and Catalan artists Rafael Barndas
(3), EvaristBasiana (1?),Joaquin Biosca (1?), Magi A. Cassanyes (2), A. Cuyis
(1?), Salvador Dali (1?), Federico GarciaLorca (4),Josep Gausachs (3), Xavier
Gtiell (1?), Joan Mir6 (4), Jos6 Moya Ketterer (1?), Josep Pujo (3), Endc
Cristdfol Ricart (3) and Miquel Villi (1?), as well as Frank Burty (3/4), Albert
Gleizes (1?), H6lene Grunoff (1?), Francis Picabia (3) and Otto \Weber (2). In
attendance, apatt from Marinetti, Benedetta and Josep Dalmau, were, amoflg
others, Berta Singermann, Rafael Barradas, Sebasti) Gasch, SebastD S6nchez-
Juan, Pedro Sal-inas and Jos6 Mafia de Sucre; in the course of his speech
Marinetti singled out for special mention Salvat-Papasseit, G6mez de la Serna
114 See Gimdnez Caballero: Madid - Barcelona: "Carteles literarios" de Gui.

11.5 Foard: Tlte Reuolt of tbe Aestbetu, pp. 83-84.
and Gim6nez Caballero.l16 The following day, 21 February, Marinetti travelled

out to the Barcelona suburb of Hospitalet to visit Barcadas at his modest home,
where he worked, andwhere the meetings of the artistico-literary group called
the Ateneillo de Hospitalet were held.
Six months later there appeared in Spanish translation on the ftont page of
I-a Caceta Literaria of 1 August 1,928, a text entitled "Espafra veloz. Por F,T.
Marinetti. Poema enpalabralibre (fragmento)" ("Swift Spain. By F.T. Marinetti.
Ftee-\Word Poem pragment]"), with a dedication to Gim6nez Caballero, de
Torre and G6mez de la Serna, and the subtide "Contra el viento adusto, co-
mandante de las fuerzas del pasado" ('Against the Harsh $7ind, Commander of
the Forces of the Past"). As is clear, this is the first of the four parts of Marinetti's
Spagna ueloce e toro futarista that was not published in its entirety, in Italian, until
1931.117 The first three parts derive their inspiration from the long and troubled
car trip that Marinetti made at the beginning of his Spanish visit, and the fourth
part, together with the accompanying text "Testamento di Negro II, toro di
Andalusia",'were inspired by the bullfight that Marinetti attended in Batcelona
on 19 February. The composition marks a certatnreturn on Marinetti's part to
theparole in liberil style of a number of years previously, and also aflother kind of
return, in that the long automobile drive across Spain causes him to return to
sevetal ideas and motifs found in the Manfesto to the Spaniards.ll9
1,928: Late examples of Futurist influence
The year 1928 was also important in that it saw the publication in Spain of
some works that still betrayed slgns of Futurist influence. The Manfest antiartfutic
catali ("Catalan Antiartistic Manifesto'), also known as "Full Groc" (iterally
'Yellow Sheet", because it was printed on a singlelarge sheet of yellow paper),
was distributed around the middle of March 1928, signed by Salvador Dali,
Sebastii Gasch (1897-1980) and Lluis Montanyi (1903-1985), the latter two
Catalan at andhterary critics.lle The manifesto had a long period of gestation,
1,1,6 See Anon.: "Galerias Dalmau: Marinetti en Barcelona." I-.a Gaceta Literaia (Nladrid) 2:29 (1
March 1928), p. 5, and Anon.; "Marinetti en Barcelona." See also Mas: DossierMainetti,
pp. 58-60, who consulted other reports of the event in the Barcelona press.
117 A useful bilingual edition in Italian and Spanish has recendy been published: Marinetti:
E spa i a ue loTjt to ro fa ta ista.
118 Lentzeni "Marinetti y el futurismo en Espafla", p. 3'13; Garcia de Carpi: "Marinetti en
Espafra", pp.825-826; Pefla's introduction to Marinetti EEafia uelo7l torofutuista,pp.32-33.
119 The Catalan text can be found in Brihuega: Manifiutos, proclamas, panfletos jt textos doctrinales,
pp.'157-161.
dating back to the summer of 1.927 ,when Dali started to work on it in coniunc-
tionwith Federico GarciaLorca (1898-1936), who was visiting him at his home
in Catalonia.121 On the basis of the tide alone one might have expected Dada-
ism to be the avant-garde movement most in evidence here, but in fact Futur-
ism looms quite large, from the widespread use of words in boldface capitals
and an unconvefltional typographical disposition of the sentences on the pa3e,
to a number of the attitudes and sentiments expressed in the text. There is no
critical consensus as to the relation between the launch date of the manifesto
and Marinetti's stay in Barcelona -barely thtee weeks separate them: while the
idea for the document and much of its original composition cleady antedate the
visit by a number of months, its co-authors may have taken of the
^d-vantage
spurt of renewed interest in the ltahan movement as a propitious moment for
its release.121
In any event, the manifesto is in the first instance directed against the
"false", "pernicious" and "rottefl" condition of official Catalan culture, and
the signatories v/arfl their readers that they have eliminated all politeness and all
reasoned argumentation from the present text; indeed, it is composed primari-
ly of two series of bald affirmattve and pejorative statements.l22 The starting-
point for their assertions is that the machine age and mass production have
radically changed the wodd, and that now "a post-machinist state of mind is
being formed."123 From there they go on to praise, in no particular order: a
number of sports G"lf, boxing, rugby, tennis), sportsmen and stadiums, beach
games, open-air beauty competitions, fashion shows, the American music-hall
and burlesque, the gramophone, jazz, modern music in genetal, new dances
(e. g., the Chadeston), cameras, the cinema, newspapets and encyclopaedias,
cars and the race track, aircraft and aitctaft engines, transadantic steamers,
modern architecture, science, feats of modern engineering, tools and textile
factories. In contrast, they denounce a number of traditional features of Catalan
culture and the Catalannationalist movement, folk songs and choirs, the lack of
decisiveness and audacity, the fear of innovation, adhesion to the past, clich6s
120 Federico Garcia Lorca: Epistolaio completo. Ed. by Andrew A. Anderson, and C. Maurer.
Madrid: Cdtedra, 1997, p. 492. See also Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y
politica G)", pp. 4647.
t21 Brihuega: "El futurismo y Espafra: Vanguardia y politica (?)", p. 46; Mas: Dossier Mainetti,
p.63,note29.
122 In this regard, another powerful model may well have been Apollinaire's L'Antitradition
futuriste (1913), with its twin lists of "Roses aux..." and "Merde aux..."; see Brihuega: "El
futurismo y Espafla: Vanguardia y politica (?)", pp. 49-50.
123 Dali, Gasch, and Montanyi: "Manifest antiartistic catald", p. 158.
1.76
culture and the Catalannationalist movement, folk songs and choirs, the lack of
decisiveness and audacity, the fear of innovation, adhesion to the past, clich6s
and comrnonplaces, decorative arts, and old-fashioned literature and painting.
fn conclusion, they invoke the names of a number of modern artists, sculptors,
writers and composers whom they admire, but the only Italtanto appear in the
list is de Chirico, and no Futurists are mentioned.
It is hatd to know exacdy what to make of this late and isolated upsurge of
Futurist attitudes amoflg three Catalanwriters who were fully familiar with the
latest avant-garde tendencies. In paft,it seems to be related to the way in which
Futudsm can easily feed into an avarLt-garde aesthetic predicated on mass-pro-
duction and standatdisation, which is essentially what Dah andhis friends were
developing over this period and which is further expressed in other jointly
authored articles appearing in the Sitges magazine L'Amic de les Arts.124
Another work from later in 1928 thatalso seems to take up Futurist themes
is Gim6nez Caballero's o$rn book Hdrcwles jugando a los dados (Hercules P@ting
Dice). Gim6nez Caballero proposes athletics, the cinema andthe dice shaker as
three principal manifestations of modernity- this last evidently deriving direct-
ly ftom MaxJacob's Le Cornet i dds,which Guillermo de Torre had translated as
El cubilete de dados in 1,924 (N.{adrid: Am6rica). Grmdnez Caballero waxes lyrical
as he describes the new sports, the race-car driver and the aviator,all the while
invoking well-known Futurist motifs such as dynamism, the cult of the
machine, and the exaltation of war.125 !7hile the overall presentation suggests
that what we are offered are the observations of a kind of proto-cultural
anthropologist, sorne critics have seen in the work, written after Gim€nez
Caballero's 1,928 visit to trtaly,ahidden political agenda,whetein Mussolini is in-
voked and praised under the guise of the mythological figure of Hercules.126
1929 onwards
From 1929 onutards we find relatively few mentions in Spain of Marinetti

and Futurism, and certainly the influence of the movement on Spanish liter-
1,24 Dali, Gasch, and Montanyi: "Les arts. Guia sindptica. Cinema." ('The Arts. Synoptic Guide.
Cinema") LAmic de les Arts (Sitges) 3:23 (31 March 1928), p. 1.75; Dali, Gasch, Monranyi,
"Les arts. Guia sindptica. L'anunci comercial. Publicitat. Propaganda." ('The Arts. Synoptic
Guide. Advertisement. Publicity. Propaganda') LAmic de lesArts (Sitges) 3:24 (3}April192B),
p. 184.
125 Albert "'E,l s^etazo de Roma': Ernesto Gimlnez Caballero y laltalta fascista", p. 98.
126 Foard: The Reuolt of the Aestbetes, pp. 117 and 1.1,9.
ature and art can be said to be effectively over. After the well-documented
visit of 1,928, Marinetti actually made several more trips to Spain, but these
were the subject of much less commentary and genetally caused much less
reaction. In June 1929 he attended the Congress of the Universal Society of
the Theatre that was being held in Barcelona as part of that city's Internation-
al Exposition, and apparendy he was also in Seville that same year. In May
1,935 Marinetti was once agatn in Barcelona, this time attending the 13th In-
ternational Congress of PEN Clubs (which was the first of the Catalan PEN
Club).127
As far as his writings are concerned, in La
Conquista del E$ado
1,931,
(IVladrid), a proto-Fascist magazine founded that same yearby Ramiro Ledesma
Ramos (1905-1936), published a translation of a text by Marinetti dating back
to 1.91.9, and in 1935 a Seville-based and short-lived poetry m^gazine, H/as de
Poesia,published in its second (and last) number another of his poems.128 Final-
ly,Maria Luisa Toranzo published as I-a guitarra del soldado @arcelona: Tipo-
grafia Occitania, 1931) a Spanish translation of the Futurist poetry collection
La cbitarra delfante by Giuseppe Steiner, with a prologue by Marinett7.12e
A few Spanish cdtics continued to write, intermittendy, about Marinetti,
mainly from the left and hence mainly negatively, and Jos6 Diaz Fernhndez
(1898-1941) is probably the most interesting of these. He devoted an article to
Marinetti in the aftermath of the Barcelona stay of Febtuary 1,928, where his
main argument was that Marinetti now had a historical importance: he had
been, Diaz Fern6ndez points out, responsible for a new aesthetic, he had cre t-
ed a new vocabulary for poetry, widened the thematic possibilities of poetry,
and was coflsequendy insttumental in changing Poetry and propelling it to-
wards the futute. However, he was no longer current, and no longer the young
and fervent revolutiorrary th^the once was, although it would seem that he had
not yet realised this or was unwilliflg to accePt it.130
Two years late4DiazFernhndez developed a longer and more complex dis-
cussion in a section of his book, El nueao romanticismo (1,930), and here he is
concerned not only with Marinetti but also with the whole movement of Futur-
ism. He commences his analysis by grving Futudsm its due:
127 Bonet: Diccionario dr las uanguardias, p. 400; Mas: Dossier Marinetti, p. 32.
1,28 Bonet: Diccionaio de las uanguardias, pp. 337 ,373, and 400. The poetic text in H{as de Poesia, an
occasional piece, had originally been published in the Italian magazine Stile futuitta; see
Gallego Roca: Poesia importada, p. 193.
1,29 Bonet: Diccionario de las uangaardia;pp.400-401.
130 DiazFerndndez;"Unasombradepaso: Marinetti." ('A ShadowPassingThrough: Marinetti')
L-a Noche (Barcelona) 29 Febrvzry 1928, quoted in Mas: Dossier Marinetti, pp.29-30.
Futurism is the most serious and most fertile tendency of all those that figure in the
index of new literature. It was characterised by a destructive impetus, indispensable
in ali advanced artistic works. For the first time it aliowed into lyric poetry elements
that until then had been kept out of literature and which corresponded to the
exigencies of a new sensibility. Futurism was what created machine-age metaphors,
simultaneous images, Iyric dynamism and that enthusiastic shift of the poet towards
mass themes. Some critics from back then accused the Futurists of being neo-
Romantic, to the great indignation of some of the latter.I believe that Futurism had
a powerful profile precisely because it was neo-Romantic and it eliminated with a
harsh gesture the iridescent foams of modernismo.l3l
Indeed:
There was a moment at which Futurism was on the point of becoming an aesthetic
doctrine with great possibilities: that was when the Italian workers began to take an
interest in that artistic style which disassociated itself from traditi onal aft and chose
elements derived from modern industrial technology. But the ideological turn of
Marinetti's theories decided its unpopulariq,because neither the bourgeoisie nor the
middle class, with their aesthetic expression ruined by a long process of academic
culture, are capable of understanding it, or even of excusing it.132
Thus it was that:
Marinetti's decline began shordy after the war, in which he took part as a captarn of
armoured cars. His book L'alcoua d'acciaio [Tlte Steel Bedroontf, a vibrant song to the
mechanics of war, dates from this period. It is then that Futurism becomes absorbed
by Fascism.133
This line of argument leads Diaz Fern6ndez to his initially most surprising or
ev en p aradoxical conclusion:
It is said that Marinetti, the ltahan Futurist, is the precursor of Fascism. Rather I
believe Fascism to be the precursor of Marinetti. That is to say, the causes that mobil-
ised the nationalism of the Black Shirts, their romantic myths, their acts of violence,
were the same that made Marinetti walk with incendiary verses in his hand.13a
Because of the ideological turn mentioned by Diaz Fern6nde z above, and

because of this confluence of origins, "Marinetti became a Fascist and he, who
called himself the destroyer of museums, today holds an official position as a
1,31, I quote from the revised edition of 1985, DiazFerndndez: El nueuo romanticismo: Polimica de
arle, politica-y literatura, p. 51..
132 Ibid., p. 50.
133 Ibid., p. 48.
134 Ibid., pp. 4748.
result of which he ends up being a curator of museums."13s As the culmination

of this process:
Nowadays Marinetti maintains, with such insistence, that Futurism is the creator of
Fascism. But that is not the case. Both conceptions have, it is true, a commofl
source: the super-individualism of Nietzsche. The advent of Fascism presupposes
the decadence of Futurism, to such a degree, that Marinetti [...] accepts that return
to ancient Rome that Mussolini advocates day-in day-out to maintain the cohesion
of his militias, and he teconciles himself to imperialism.l36
The viewpoint and anilysis put forward byJuan Chab6s (1900-1954) is a good
deal less subde but perhaps more typical of the period. Chab6s, who as a young
poet had been close to altraismr, spent the years 1,924 to 1926 in Genoa as a
lector in Spanish, and he collected his experiences and observations in his book
Italiafascista: Political cultura.137 In studying the origins and doctrine of ltahan
Fascism he sees in Futurism a clear antecedent of the political movement, for
"in 1,909, tt aheady speaks a Mussolini-like language", and he depicts Marinetti
as a "a traglc, declamatory clown, [and] a champion of wat", who declares
himself in favour of the political activity of the new regime, "because the
Fascist racket turned out to be an environment favourable to his own literary
12sf.s1."138 Several years later, the communist-oriented magazine Octabre
([tladrid, 1,933-1,934) published a virulent note attacking Marinetti.l3e
As far as the view from the right is concerned, Gim6nez CabalTero remained
the chief spokesman. In the essay aheady cited, "Itaha y Espafra (circuito sin
competici6n)" from JulEe de menta (1929), Gimlnez Caballero offered com-
mentary on Madnetti's 1928 Spanish trip, and while he found that this tour had
been "more political than literar!", Caballero still dedicated a good deal of
space to Futurism's contribution to the Spanish lJltra movement; furthermore,
despite the recent notoriety achieved by Marinetti, he bemoaned the lack of real
understanding on behalf of most Spaniards of the man and the movement.lao
However, even before this piece was published in book form, the principal
focus of Gim6nez CabalTero's attention began shifting its emphasis away from
literature, Marinetti and Futurism and towards Italy, Mussolini and Fascism:
135 Ibid., pp. 4748.

136 Ibid., pp.49-50.
137 JuanChabits: Italiafascista: Political cultura. Barcelona: Mentora, 1928. See Bonet: Diccionaio de
las uanguardias,p. 1 56.

138 Pefla, in his introduction to Marinetti: Espafia ueloq.lt torofutuista,pp.2S-29.
139 Bonet: Diccionaio de las uanguardias,p.401,.
1,40 Gim6nez Cabillero: Julepe de mental otros apeitiuos, pp. 53-54. See also Lefltzen: "Marinetti y
el futurismo en Espafra", p.31,3.
180
Within three months of Marinetti's trip to Maddd, however, Gim6nez Caballero

returned to Italy on a visit which would be decisive for his c reer and his art. The
product of that tour was his enduring admiration of Mussolini and Italian fascism
which, for the first time, he openly declared in the pages of the Gaceta [Literaria]. As if
he wishes to commuflicate these sentiments to an even broader audience, his articles
on Italy and its Duce formed a considerable part of his book, Circuito imperial
S{adrid:
E. Gim6nez), which was published eady in '1929. [-. . ] Nowhere [in the five European
countries thathe visited] was he moreimpressed bywhathe saw thaninMussolini's Ita-
ly. Compared to it, he decided Primo de Rivera's Spainwas dull, pacifist, and altogeth-
er too liberal.lal
As a result, we can chan Gim6nez Caballero's evolution over three crucial years
through the pages of La Ganta Literaria: "He began as the Vanguard's defend-
er 11,9277, emerged in 1,928 as one of its practitioriers, and by 1929 had adopted
the pose of archivist to a movement which he contended was defunct except in
the narrow regions of politics"; and:
In its initialyea4 1,927-1,928, the pages of the journal reveal its editor's earnest
attempts to harmonise his nationalism, particulady as it acquired political definition,
with his aestheticism, his commitment to Vanguardist art. In the end, he would de-
spair of the effort and pronounce the demise of the Vanguard [1929].142
Along this path, two of the most significant moments would be when Caballero
anflounced that "the only authentic a,vairtt-gardists of today are those boys in the
Fascist militia, who have nothing whatever to do with literaatte" (1 August
1928),143 and when, on 15 February 1929, and from the pages of La Gaceta,he
effectively declared himself publicly a Fascist.laa
14L Foard: Tlte Reuolt of the Autbetu, pp. 83-84, 108. The articles in question arc Gimd.nez
Caballero: "12.203 kil6metros hteratura: La etapa italtana F1." La Gaceta Literaria (Nladrid)
2:39 (l August 1,928),p.4;"12.203 kil6metros Eteratura:Laetapaitahana[If." I-aGacetaLiter-
aia Qvladid) 2:4A Q5 August 1928) p. 4; and "12.302 [rzr] Kms. hteratura: Final de la etapa
italiana." Ia Gace ta Literaia (X{addd) 2:41, (1, September 1928), p. 6.
1,42 Foard: The Reaolt of the Autbetes,pp. 67 and93.
143 Gim6nez Caballero: "El torpedo en la pista. Alarma: iLa rctagoardia quiere ya ser
vanguardista!" ('The Torpedo on the Track. Alarm: The Rearguard Now Wants to be Avant-
Gatde!') La Gaceta Literaia (A4addd) 2:39 (l August 1928),p.1.
144 Gim6nez Caballero: "En torno al casticismo de Italia: Carta a un compafrero de la joven
Espafla." ('Regarding the Authentic Tradition of Italy: Letter to a Comrade of Young Spain')
I-a Caceta I.iteraia (X{adrid) 3:52 (15 February 1929),pp. 1, 5. For a study of the considerable
fallout of this announcement see Foard: The Reuolt of the Authetes, pp. 1.33-136.
Conclusion
From this point on we witness the increasing politicisation of Spanish literature

through the 1930s, a phenomenon that rt shares with many other European
literatures. General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who had come to pov/er in the
autumn of 1,923, in a coup d'6tat modelled on Mussolini's of a ye^r earlte4 re-
signed from office in early 1930. Thereafter, a series of essentially temporary,
carctaker administrations were in power until the elections of April 1,931,the re-
sults of which caused I{ing Alfonso XIII to abdicate and go into voluntary
exile, leaving the way clear for the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic
(1,931-1939). Over the years before the outbreak of the Civil War (]uly 1936),
several different governments of a variety of political hues held office, each
seeking to implement its own wide-reaching political agenda. Over the 1930s a
number of prominent Spanish writers espoused Communism, while a rather
lesser number followed Gim€nez Caballero's cue in the move towards Fascism.
DiazFernhndez's lucid, provocative and relatively subde analysis of 1930 seems
to be virtually the "last word" regarding Marinetti and the ltterary avant-garde;
Futurism, now over twenty years old, was definitely a thing of the past, and on
those rare occasions when Marinetti was alluded to in the 1930s, he and his
movement were seen - regardless of the merits of such a view - as being
essentially synonymous with Itahan Fascism.

Prometo Futurism and Spanish Literature in The C

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Inte rnatLonal Futurls m

in Arts and Literature

Walter de Gruyter' Bedin ' New York

Futurism and Spanish Literature in the Context

1.909-1910: Marinettt, Prometeo and the Spanish press

The Manifesto of Futurism is admirably v/ritten. As a work of art,it is in and of itself a

Furthermore, Gonzillez-Blanco finds thatthe Futuristperspective coincideswith

Gonzillez-Blanco: "El futurismo: IJna nueva escuelahterara." ("Futurism: A New Literary

If Unamuno continued to take an interest in Marinetti and Futurism, even if

abstruse."ls In one particulady revealing passage, he wrote of the plan to

C\eaily,then, Marinetti returns to a number of topics akeady treated in other

Futurism and Spain, 1,9 1,1,-1,918

In most studies of the reception of Futurism in Spain, it is suggested rhat,after

JI R. Sdnchez Diaz:"Las industrias espafrolas." ("Spanish Industries') Elexra (NIadrid) 5 (13

rhythm of modernhfe."azIn 1916, an uflexpected reference by a traditionalist

Futurism and Spanish [Jltraismo

The avant-garde,with the pantal exception, as noted above, of Ram6n G6mez

49 Gallego Roca: Poesia importada, p. 191.

My conclusions are essentially similar to those of Cano Ballesta in Literatura 1 tecnologia,

ff :;fi ji Jil;il il :#: : ff 111*de s,u,ip e s

66 ln Literaturas europeasde uanguardia, the section "El movimiento futuristaitahano" occupies

symbols instead of punctuation: "Incendios + Aullidos * Muecas x Rascacielos

Futurism and the Catalan avant-garde

72 "Fires * Howls * Grimaces x Skyscrapers - Gyrfalcons = Acrobatics * Plesiosaurs *

Besides Foix, Folguera,Junoy, Salvat-Papasseit and Sinchezluan,other Catalan

combat." ("Futurism as a Doctrine of Combat") La Publicidad @arcelona) Q4 February

82 Salvat-Papas seit: Poesie futuiste, pp. 12-15.

Pseudonym "David Cristii", he published in March t922 a Srgoo manfest catal)

Futurism and Spanish painting

The "Catalan connection" againlooms largewhen we come to consider the

book El descabrimiento de $ mismo (The Discouerl of Oneself) (1917) and, especially,

and inner dynamism inBarradas'works, suggesting specifically the impact of

The mid- 1920s

Marinetti's trip to Spain (1,928), Ernesto Gim€nez Caballero

104 Most of these details come from Anon.: "Marinetti en Barcelona."

From l2February onwards, Marinetti's daily schedule returned to that more

106 Mas who offers a very detailed account of the stay.

Positive evaluations of Marinetti were much r^reL Ram6n G6mez de la Serna,

109 See Mas: DossierMainetti,pp. 28-30.

(1899-1988), apart from masterminding the tribute in La Gaceta Literaria (see

114 See Gimdnez Caballero: Madid - Barcelona: "Carteles literarios" de Gui.

and Gim6nez Caballero.l16 The following day, 21 February, Marinetti travelled

1,928: Late examples of Futurist influence

From 1929 onutards we find relatively few mentions in Spain of Marinetti

Thus it was that:

Because of the ideological turn mentioned by Diaz Fern6nde z above, and

result of which he ends up being a curator of museums."13s As the culmination

135 Ibid., pp. 4748.

las uanguardias,p. 1 56.

Within three months of Marinetti's trip to Maddd, however, Gim6nez Caballero

From this point on we witness the increasing politicisation of Spanish literature

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