Synopsis "1913: The Year of French Modernism"
1913: The year of French modernism is the first book to respond to two deceptively simple questions: 'What constituted modernism in France?' and 'What is the place of France on the map of global modernism?' Taking its cue from the seminal year 1913, an annus mirabilis for literature and art, the book captures a snapshot of vibrant creativity in France and a crucial moment for the quickly emerging modernism throughout the world. While French authors, such as Apollinaire, Mallarmé or Proust have been canonized as key figures of modernism, and Paris is thought of as a real, imaginary and symbolic centre of modernity, the story of French modernism has not yet been told. 1913: The year of French modernism tells this story, shows that even central occurrences of modernism remain to be explored, demonstrates how the ‘global’ is embedded in the ‘regional’, and finally reconstructs and rethinks the centrality of France for modernism – as well as the meaning of centrality altogether. Essays from specialists on works of literature, art, photography and cinema which were created or made public in and around 1913, outline in a dazzling fresco the protagonists, strategies, genres, dynamics, themes and legacies of what was ‘French modernism’. This volume is of relevance to scholars and students in French studies, modernist and avant-garde studies, literature, art, cinema and photography.
