Vol. XXXIII · 2002 · pp. 207-237 (31 incl. 2 illus.)

Irina Livezeanu

Download full article (476 KB) [subscribers only]

Abstract

The Great War and the continentwide reconfiguration that followed in its wake profoundly transformed the intellectual and cultural landscape, along with Europe's society and politics. Modernism, already on the scene before the war, was significantly strengthened in the process. While scholars have focused on France, England, Germany, Austria (that is, Vienna), and Russia as sites of modernism, much less is known about the literary and artistic topography of Eastern Europe, including the various Austro- Hungarian hinterlands, during the tumultuous interwar decades. Even significant figures belonging to modernist currents in East Central Europe, whole movements and circles, have been largely left out of the story of European modernism, rendering a fully inflected understanding of the phenomenon unlikely. Famous Eastern European artists and writers who expatriated themselves are the exception: critics and scholars often consider them as part of the European scene writ large, or as homeless international stars. Few who recognize the names actually know Constantin Brâncus¸i, Eugène Ionesco, or Tristan Tzara as Romanians, although they are well-known modernists or avant-gardists. In such cases, too, the resulting elliptical historical picture can be problematic.