The Manifesto of Futurism

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

• Publisher: Passerino
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9788893450492
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Philosophie politique

Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. "The Manifesto of Futurism" written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, initiated an artistic philosophy, Futurism, that was a rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, youth and industry; it also advocated the modernization and cultural rejuvenation of Italy. Marinetti wrote the manifesto in the autumn of 1908 and it first appeared as a preface to a volume of his poems, published in Milan in January 1909. It was published in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dell'Emilia in Bologna on 5 February 1909 then in French as Manifeste du futurisme (Manifesto of Futurism) in the newspaper Le Figaro on 20 February 1909. Translated by Jason Forbus

The Manifesto of Futurism

1. We intend to sing songs of love, danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.

2. Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.

3. Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and slumber. We intend to exalt aggressive action, a fevered insomnia, a racer’s stride, the mortal leap, a punch and slap.

4. We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A race car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents with explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.

5. We want to laud the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit around the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.

6. The poet must consume himself with ardor, sple...