Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

It is the first edition of the original text of F.T.Marinetti's Manifeste du Futurisme , published in Paris, in the Figaro, on February 20, 1909. This monograph contains the original manuscript of the manifesto with its two variants: the first manuscript written on October 8, or 11 (according to Marinetti himself), plus the second variant which is a corrected version of the first one. This second manuscript was written with more calm and still contains corrections. The most interesting correction is the addition at the bottom of page 3 in point 9 ( page 76 of the Ottawa published monograph) of the famous "Le mépris de la femme". This little sentence which irritates and has irritated female readers of the text was not in the first version of the text. It appears here as an afterthought and it might very well be due to Marinetti's break-up with Emma Gramatica, the famous movie star of the day. The rest of the monograph contains facsimile copies of the Manifesto in French, Italian, English, German, Russian and other languages. It also contains the press clippings that Marinetti published in Poesia. The last section of the book contains also letters sent to literary people about the art of "making" manifestoes and a list of the philosophical and literary texts that Marinetti wrote to himself as absolute necessary readings. This monograph will be republished in 2010 by the University of Ottawa Press with an introduction in English, French and Italian, with summaries in German, Japanese and Arabic. Jean-Pierre de Villers

"The volume begins with Marinetti's early lyrical works, poems that exemplify styles and themes that he later reacted against in his own manifestos. It continues with his poems of battle. In which Marinetti used the language of machines and explosions to express his view of poetry as reportage from the front: "Words in Freedom," in which he declared war on poetry by destroying syntax and spelling and by experimenting with typography; and finally love poems to his wife, Benedetta, in which he returned in part to subjects and forms that he had previously rejected. The volume includes a prefatory biography of Marinetti written by Luce Marinetti as well as a critical review by Paolo Valesio of Marinetti's accomplishment as a poet."--BOOK JACKET.