A slap in the face of public taste: the Russian Futurists' aesthetics of revolution

This thesis examines the historical context in which Russian Futurism formed in 1910 in order to comprehend better this significant movement’s motivations, ideologies, aesthetics, and effects on subsequent literature, art, and politics, particularly those of Russia. It identifies the primary problems of the late Russian Empire and how various groups sought to provide solutions to these troubles to help Russia become modern. While scholars often focus on the Bolsheviks’ proposal of a two-fold socio-political revolution because this view prevailed in and after 1917, other organizations promoted their own interpretations of how to address Russia’s numerous troubles that offer insight into the era and the diversity of opinions that existed during this turbulent period. This project focuses on the most well-known group of Russian Futurists, Hylaea (sometimes also called the Cubo-Futurists), because its members developed unconventional aesthetics of revolution to spread their plan to the Russian public from the time of its founding in 1910 until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. The Hylaean Futurists' proposal expanded upon and differed from the Bolsheviks' vision of revolution because it called for a three-tiered revolution that would encompass aesthetics in addition to politics and society. By deliberately infusing their iconoclastic aesthetics of revolution into their writings, books, and performances, the Hylaeans slapped ambivalent and complacent Russians awake to the shameful conditions that existed in the empire's antiquated political, social, and artistic systems. This thesis includes a number of detailed case studies of the Hylaean Futurists' pre-war publications, rhetoric, illustrations, and performances in order to understand more comprehensively their inspiration, aesthetics, techniques, interpretation of revolution, and relationship with the socialists before the momentous revolutions of 1917.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Russian, E Eur, Eurasian St

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Lipira, Emily K

Contributors dc:contributor

• Steinberg, Mark D.
• Cooper, David

• Russian Futurism
• Futurists
• Hylaea
• Cubo-Futurism
• Cubo-Futurists
• Vladimir Maiakovskii
• Vladimir Mayakovsky
• David Burliuk
• Khruchenykh
• Khlebnikov
• Slap in the Face of Public Taste
• Modernity
• Late Imperial Russia
• Revolution
• Aesthetics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Emily Lipira

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90621

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90621