Stevenson, Guy. 2017. 'Trolling the Enlightenment: Lewis, Marinetti & the Modernist precedent for America’s 'Alt-Right' (Invited Paper)'. In: Futurism-Formism-Witkacy. The Centre for Avant-Garde Studies at the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Poland. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract or Description

This paper explored a precedent for the shock tactics of the American ‘Alt Right’ in the methods of European avant-gardes of the early 20th century. It contributed to a common conversation in the late 2010s about the parallels between that time and the 1930s—an economic crash followed by a retreat to political extremes; the resurgence of the far right & the far left and a bewildered liberal elite sensing they’re on ‘the wrong side of history’. I argued that Trump’s election in 2016 had brought to the fore a new kind of alternative anti-liberal politics whose tone & methods had something in common with the conservative avant-garde manifesto writers of the early 20th century. At the same time as acknowledging major differences between their politics, I wanted to compare both the larger rejection of enlightenment certitudes connecting these two cultural moments and to think about similarities between their tactics of provocation.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	English and Comparative Literature
Dates:	Date Event 8 November 2017 Accepted 2017 Completed
Event Location:	The Centre for Avant-Garde Studies at the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Item ID:	36763
Date Deposited:	13 Jun 2024 15:59
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2024 22:19
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/36763

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