Friday, January 29, 2010

Disturb the Universe: The Avant Garde and Modernism


Thursday, Feb 4th
Disturb the Universe: The Avant Garde and Modernism
Fullerton Hall
Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Free admission

From Guillaume Apollinaire and Gertrude Stein to Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett, avant-garde writers, in synch with artists such as Picasso, charted the future of modernism as it set off in myriad directions. Goodman Theatre actors present excerpts of prose, plays, and poetry.

But laugh laugh at me
Men everywhere especially people from here
For there are so many things that I don’t dare to tell you
So many things that you would not let me say
Have pity on me
—Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by James Wright

Why am I if I am uncertain reasons may inclose.
Remain remain propose repose chose.
—Gertrude Stein, from Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza LXXXIII

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht, translated by John Willet

Co-sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago