A pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar e relacionar as escritas de si do poeta e escritor russo Daniil Kharms (1905-1942): seus apontamentos em cadernetas, sua prosa quasebiográfica, como a novela A velha (1939), suas cartas e seus autorretratos, sobretudo na década de 1930, momento em que essas artes de si mesmo passam a interagir de forma mais pronunciada, quando o criador e sua obra se misturam de maneira muito peculiar. Como o estudo das cadernetas do escritor define ponto medular da pesquisa e este material ainda não foi publicado no Brasil, também será apresentada a tradução de parte de seus cadernos de anotações e do pequeno diário, que abarcam os anos de 1924 a 1940. Além disso, pelo próprio recorte do trabalho, foi delineada uma biografia cuidadosa do autor, um dos fundadores da Oberiu, o último grande grupo do vanguardismo russo, assim como foram definidos alguns diálogos (Krutchónykh, Khlébnikov, Bergson, Malévitch e tchinari) que marcaram o desenvolvimento artístico e filosófico de Daniil Kharms, um dos mais peculiares e talentosos artistas russos de vanguarda, hoje assemelhado a escritores como Franz Kafka, Eugène Ionesco e Samuel Beckett. / The objetive of this thesis is to analyse the self-writing of the Russian poet and writer Daniil Kharms (1905-1942): his notes in notepads, his almost-biographical prose, such as the novel Old Woman (1939), his letters and self-portraits, especially in the 1930s, a time when these arts about oneself start to interact in a more emphatic way, when the writer and his work mix up in a very particular way. As the study on his notepads defines the central element of this research and this material has not been previously published in Brazil, it will be also presented a translation of a part of his notepads and little diary, from 1924 to 1940. Furthermore, by the perspective taken in this study, a detailed biography of the author was conducted. Kharms was one of the founders of Oberiu, the last avant-garde Russian group. Hence, the study also debates the importance of the art and philosophy of Krutchónykh, Khlébnikov, Bergson, Malévitch e tchinari to the work of Kharms, who became one of the most singular and talented contemporary Russian authors, compared to Franz Kafka, Eugène Ionesco e Samuel Beckett.

Esta pesquisa tenciona compreender as relações do escritor Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) com a literatura surrealista, considerando manuscritos e livros em seu acervo, no patrimônio do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros da Universidade de São Paulo (IEB-USP), bem como a sua obra publicada. A pesquisa reúne e transcreve textos literários e ensaísticos atinentes ao Surrealismo, mencionados nos manuscritos do Fichário Analítico de Mário de Andrade; promove o levantamento de obras e de periódico surrealistas franceses presentes na biblioteca do criador de Macunaíma, recuperando anotações de leitura, as quais sugerem diálogos de criação na esfera da crítica literária e da literatura; congrega igualmente juízos críticos de Mário de Andrade sobre o Surrealismo expressos em sua obra édita e correspondência / This search intends to understand the relationship of the writer Mário de Andrade (1893 1945) with the Surrealist literature, considering handwritten and books in his collection, in the property of Institute of Brazilian Studies of São Paulo University (IEB-USP), as like his published work. The search gathers and transcripts literary and essayist texts pertinent to surrealism, mentioned in the handwritten of Mário de Andrades Analytical Card index; it organizes the survey of works and the French Surrealists periodic presents in the library of Macunaimas creator, recapturing reading notes, which suggest dialogues of creation in the literary critic sphere and the literature; it gathers equally Mário de Andrades criticizes judges about Surrealism expressed in his published work and correspondence.

Este trabalho pretende expor as maneiras pelas quais a ficção de Aníbal Machado dialoga com o cinema, procurando definir a ampla visão de sua poética a partir desse viés. A condição do autor de fã e conhecedor da chamada sétima arte faz com que ela se faça presente também em sua obra literária. Um dos aspectos nela observados é a tentativa de reproduzir técnicas e procedimentos da linguagem cinematográfica, o que tem origem em práticas das vanguardas europeias e do modernismo brasileiro. Tal tentativa se faz já em João Ternura, livro que começou a ser escrito por volta de 1926 e concluído às vésperas da morte do autor, em 1964, e é claramente marcado como um projeto modernista. A aproximação da linguagem fílmica nesse livro, entretanto, limita-se quase exclusivamente à montagem de segmentos narrativos descontínuos. Por outro lado, os recursos que buscam similaridade com a narrativa fílmica encontram-se disseminados nos contos do autor, sendo A morte da porta-estandarte o mais cinematográfico deles, já que mobiliza a maior parte desses recursos, como a focalização de um assunto de diversos ângulos e a montagem, realizando uma feliz conjunção entre imagem, movimento e som. Num segundo andamento a tese examina uma particularidade cinematográfica, a presença de Carlitos, de Charles Chaplin, na obra de Aníbal Machado, bem como do cinema burlesco de maneira geral. Assim é enfatizado que na ficção do autor existe uma galeria de personagens que se distingue pela inocência, pelo sonho ou pelo irracional, o que resulta de uma visão do universo de Carlitos influenciada pelas vanguardas europeias, principalmente pelo surrealismo, ao qual Aníbal Machado chegou a declarar publicamente a adesão. As referências aos filmes chaplinianos estão também no ponto de vista irônico do narrador, bem como na coexistência do cômico e do dramático. Na ficção do autor, a gestualidade está relacionada à inocência e ternura de personagens que, por esse motivo, são massacrados pelas rígidas regras e convenções sociais. Daí seu irracionalismo representado pelo burlesco - como recusa a se submeter a essas regras. A pesquisa se detém ainda em outras atividades de Aníbal Machado relacionadas ao cinema. Nesse particular, o foco se volta para o início dos anos 1950, quando o escritor foi convidado pela Companhia Vera Cruz a colaborar com roteiros de outros autores e a escrever adaptações para alguns contos de sua autoria. Assim, elaborou sinopses e roteiros para A morte da porta-estandarte, O telegrama de Ataxerxes e O piano, mas nenhum deles chegou a ser filmado. Nesse andamento, pretende-se caracterizar o contexto em que a produção ficcional se inscreve, situando-a também na história do cinema brasileiro. Tomando as adaptações de autoria de Aníbal, procura-se avaliar o motivo do interesse do mercado cinematográfico da época em adaptar seus contos. Com isso em vista, pretende-se fazer uma análise comparativa entre A morte da porta-estandarte e sua correspondente sinopse em duas versões, e de O telegrama de Ataxerxes e o roteiro nele baseado, procurando explicitar as soluções adotadas pelo autor para transpor suas histórias para uma linguagem cinematográfica, criando novos elementos para dar conta das diferentes artes e linguagens que se impõem nessas adaptações. / This work intends to discuss problems related to Anibal Machados literary works and the dialogues he established with the filmic art and in this way trying to define the large view of his poetics. The authors interest as fan and expert of the so called Seventh Art was fundamental to the assimilation he processed in his fictional works. So one of the aspects observed in this analyses includes the authors attempt to reproduce techniques and proceedings of the cinematographic language with keeping its roots in practices of the European Avant-garde and in the Brazilian Modernism. This mentioned attempt is firstly present in João Ternura, a book he started writing by 1926 and only finished in 1964 soon before his death, and in which he exposes the linking with the Brazilian modernist project. In this case the approach he established between his literary writing and the filmic proceedings was limited to the act of assembling discontinuous narrative sequences. But different approaches to the filmic narrative were explored in his short-stories being A morte da porta-estandarte the most relevant example of the various ways he tried to absorb the cinematographic language. So from different angles of viewing and discontinuous acts of assembling Aníbal Machado tried to explore the field of the images, movements and sonorities. As a second part this work examines a specific element, focusing the famous character created by Charles Chaplin, Charlie, but also trying to capture the general burlesque aspect of the cinema in the work of Aníbal Machado. So it is showed that in the authors fiction there is a gallery of characters distinguished by its innocence, by the dream and by irrational aspects that lead to Charlies universe and is also influenced by the European Avant-garde, mainly the Surrealism, that Aníbal Machado once declared its adoption. The references to Chaplins filmography will be also stressed by means of the ironical approach of the narrator as well as the comic and the dramatic aspects. In the authors fiction it is marked the presence of the corporal movement related to innocence and tenderness of some characters that due to this kind of acting are slaughtered by the rigidness of social rules and conventions. And so it results in irrationalism represented by the burlesque as a refusal to be submitted to the social rules. The research is still enlarged by other activities of Aníbal Machado related to the Seventh Art. In this case the focus was directed to the beginning of the 50s when the A. Machado was invited by the cinematographic Companhia Vera Cruz to help in the writing of scripts and also asked to adapt some of his own short-stories. Among them are A morte da porta-estandarte, O telegrama de Ataxerxes and O piano, though none of them was filmed. In this part the intention is to expose the context in which the Aníbals work of fiction is included trying to situate it in the history of the Brazilian cinema. Finally, we try to appreciate and discuss reasons way at that time the filmic industry was interested in adapting Aníbals short-stories. So it was developed a comparative approach between A morte da porta-estandarte and two versions of its respective summary. The same was developed between O telegrama de Ataxerxes and a script based on this short-story. In both cases it is tried to show ways the author used to translate his fictional stories to a filmic language thus creating new elements to adapt different arts and languages.

Esta dissertação procurou lançar diferentes interpretações sobre a forma como a cidade foi re-presentada nas revistas Klaxon (1922), Martín Fierro (1924), Revista de Antropofagia (1928) e Sur (1931), publicadas em São Paulo e em Buenos Aires por grupos considerados parte das vanguardas literárias na América Latina. Partindo-se das leituras decorrentes da Escola da De-pendência, perpassando os Estudos Culturais Urbanos e chegando às teorias Pós-Coloniais (sempre dentro da relação entre a crítica literária e a história urbana), buscou-se questionar a ideia de modernidade à qual se habituou associar a conformação das cidades latino-americanas no início do século XX. Com isso, pretende-se demonstrar como a multiplicidade de olhares existente nas diferentes abordagens historiográficas adotadas, mais do que se contraporem ou se substituírem, se complementam, gerando uma riqueza de análise que permite uma constante reinterpretação dos episódios históricos; análise que, feita sobre o conteúdo da fonte primária, pode ser projetada no presente contribuindo para uma melhor compreensão da nossa condição atual. Assim, se em um primeiro momento a leitura das representações urbanas pode apresentar cidades aparentemente homogeneízadas, aos poucos elas são destituídas das interpretações esta-belecidas pela história moderna, apontando para matizes culturais próprios; paralelamente, a identificação das suas semelhanças deixam de corresponder a um ideal de modernidade univer-sal para sugerir a existência de uma estrutura narrativa construída para ocultar as ferramentas de dominação cultural próprias da sociedade moderna burguesa herdeira do sistema colonialista. / This work intends to do different interpretations of how the city was represented in magazines Klaxon (1922), Martín Fierro (1924), Revista de Antropofagia (1928) e Sur (1931), published in São Paulo and Buenos Aires by groups considered part of the Avant-garde Literature in Latin America. Starting from the Dependence School readings, passing through the Urban Cultural Studies and reaching the Post-colonial theories (always within the relationship between literary criticism and urban history), we sought to question the idea of modernity, often associated with the formation of Latin American cities in the early twentieth century. As a result, it was possible to demonstrate how the multiplicity of perspectives in the different historiographical approach-es, rather than contradict or replace, they complement each other, generating a wealth of analy-sis that allows a constant reinterpretation of historical events. This analysis, done on the content of selected texts, can be projected into the present contributing to a better understanding of our present condition. So, if the first impression upon the urban representations is that they may have apparently homogenized cities, they are gradually devoid of all the established interpreta-tions by modern history, pointing to cultural nuances. At the same time, the similarities between them suggest the existence of a narrative structure built to hide the tools of cultural domination belonging to the modern bourgeois society, heiress of the colonial system.

This dissertation is a comparative study of the Russian and Czech avant-gardes and their responses to the crises of representation and artistic language in the first decades of the 20th century. In particular, it examines the theoretical and creative output of two artists who worked at the intersection of the word and image: the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and the visual artist Karel Teige. Both artists were central figures in the founding and theoretical articulation of Russian Futurism and Czech Poetism, respectively. The chapters trace these artists’ artistic evolutions, from their earliest conceptions of a crisis in art to the development of solutions for overcoming this crisis. The theoretical and creative output of these figures is examined both within the artists’ individual oeuvres, as well as in light of their respective artistic movements and the broader tendencies of the international avant-garde. Chapter 1 traces Mayakovsky’s response to the crisis from his initial impulse toward abstraction, characteristic of the Russian Cubo-Futurist movement in the verbal and visual arts more broadly, to the introduction of a political agenda into his art. On the basis of Mayakovsky’s participation in collective Futurist publications, his individually authored theoretical essays, and narrative poems, this chapter argues that the poet’s solution to the crisis of language coalesced around the possibility of realizing democratic representation in art. The chapter shows that in poems written between 1914 and 1921, Mayakovsky was concerned with the question of how to accommodate others’ voices in lyric poetry, how to allow them to speak in and through his works. His vision of a more democratic form of representation necessitated the poet’s metaphorical self-sacrifice, which he repeatedly performed in his poems on the level of plot. This sacrifice enabled him to realize his vision of democratic representation in the idea of collective authorship performed in his narrative poem 150,000,000. Chapter 2 highlights Karel Teige’s response to the crisis of artistic language and representation in his theoretical essays and artworks. By contrast to Mayakovsky’s politicized response, Teige prioritized formal innovation. More specifically, this chapter argues that Teige viewed the fusion of the word and image in a multimedia art form as a solution to the parallel crises that afflicted the visual and the verbal arts. This desired fusion remained a constant of Teige’s artistic solutions throughout the 1920s. His first attempts to overcome the crisis are contained in the Poetist conception of “image poetry,” which incorporated words, painted images, photographs, and other materials. The photograph, understood as a direct imprint of reality, introduced the element of the real into image poetry and thereby transfigured the word and image. After image poetry, Teige went on to replay his formal solution to the crisis of representation in another fused form—the typophoto, which was integrated into the experimental multimedia book ABCs (1926). The introduction and conclusion frame these case studies in terms of the broader trends that inform the artistic experiments of these figures. More specifically, the introductory chapter grapples with questions of how the crisis of language and representation at the turn of the 20th century can be conceptualized. Arguing that the artistic experimentation of the 1910s and the 1920s represents a continuity of what Foucault calls the modern episteme, the introduction at the same time seeks to address the fissures and breaks represented by abstraction in art and the proto-structuralist understanding of the sign in linguistics. The conclusion addresses the role of figurative language in the articulation of the crisis and maintains that while the language of crisis was productive for artistic experiment, it confined the avant-garde to perpetual renewal of forms and artistic language.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:32:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 William Golino.pdf: 22459041 bytes, checksum: 405b5d6c2e2313724a978a19439ac51a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The portrait, like any image, is one form of specific ideology of the image field, irreducible, different from the ideologies of other fields, such as politics, literary, etc. Therefore, it is an image ideology, it means, a relatively coherent visual set of beliefs, values and representations, produced by the representative of the social class that commissions and uses it, inseparable from economy, politics and morals. By means of its forms, the portrait presents and represents the global interests and needs of the class, as well as, the particular interests and needs of the class sectors involved in its production, propagation and storage. The main way to explain it is through the analysis of composition, stylistic techniques, materials, dimensions and other original data, historically fixed. Hypothesis: The portrait is constituent to the social relations. Justification: To explain its historical insertion. Theoretical and methodological aspects: Analysis of the integration between artistic and non-artistic forms and contents. Objective: To demonstrate the ideological character of the portrait. Obtained results: The portrait forms determine their aesthetic and plastic meanings, integrated with other ambits of life, for instance, the modern portrait has modern forms while the classic and academic portrait has classic and academic forms / O retrato, como qualquer imagem, é uma forma de ideologia específica do campo imagético, irredutível, diferente das ideologias de outros campos, tais como o político, literário, etc., portanto, é uma ideologia imagética, ou seja, um conjunto visual, relativamente coerente, de crenças, valores e representações, produzido pelo representante da classe social que o encomenda e utiliza, indissociável de economia, política e moral. Por meio de suas formas, o retrato apresenta e representa os interesses e necessidades globais de classe e particulares dos setores de classes envolvidos em sua produção, veiculação e guarda. O principal meio para explicá-lo é a análise de composição, técnicas estilísticas, materiais, dimensões e outros dados originais, historicamente fixados. Hipótese: O retrato é constituinte às relações sociais. Justificativa: Explicar sua inserção histórica. Aspectos teórico-metodológicos: Análise da integração entre formas e conteúdos artísticos e não artísticos. Objetivo: Evidenciar o caráter ideológico do retrato. Resultados obtidos: As formas do retrato determinam seus significados estéticos e plásticos, integrados aos outros âmbitos da vida, por exemplo, o retrato moderno tem formas modernas, enquanto o retrato clássico e acadêmico tem formas clássicas e acadêmicas

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:45:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sonia Duarte dos Santos.pdf: 1256700 bytes, checksum: 44d5133fbabf2c1aa412ab0033fb0748 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-28 / Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie / Tarsila do Amaral a été, à un âge précoce, éduquée dans un environnement dans lequel la culture française faisait partie des habitudes et des coutumes de la famille, même en vivant dans une ferme de café dans l'État de São Paulo. En tant qu'adulte, elle a renforcé son éducation intellectuelle et artistique dans les terres françaises, précisément à la capitale, Paris, au point haut de l'avant-garde, ayant en tant que mentors, en particulier, les artistes cubistes. Cette recherche vise à observer le dialogue culturel entre le Brésil et la France à travers mouvements artistiques et littéraires qui a eu lieu dans ces deux pays dans les années 20: avant-garde européenne et brésilienne, ou mieux, examiner le dialogue organisé par Tarsila do Amaral entre contexte français et brésilien, dans sa carrière en tant que chroniqueur, ainsi que les relations qui sont établies entre le soi et l'autre dans les processus discursifs mis en place historiquement par des sujets différents. À cette fin, pour composer le corpus ont été choisies onze chroniques que Tarsila do Amaral a publiées dans le journalDiário de S.Paulo, entre les années 1936 à 1956, et rééditées dans l'anthologie organisée par Laura Taddei Brandini en 2008. / Tarsila do Amaral foi, desde tenra idade, educada em um ambiente no qual a cultura francesa fazia parte dos hábitos e costumes da família, mesmo residindo numa fazenda cafeeira no interior do Estado de São Paulo. Quando adulta, aprimorou a sua formação intelectual e artística em terras francesas, precisamente na capital, Paris, no auge das vanguardas e tendo como principais mentores os artistas cubistas. Esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de verificar o diálogo cultural entre Brasil e França por meio dos movimentos artístico-literários, ocorridos nos dois países, na década de 20: vanguarda europeia e modernismo brasileiro; ou melhor, analisar o diálogo intermediado por Tarsila do Amaral entre o contexto francês e o brasileiro, em sua trajetória como cronista, bem como as relações que se instauram entre o eu e o outro nos processos discursivos instituídos historicamente pelos diferentes sujeitos. Para tanto, foram selecionadas para o corpus desse trabalho 11 crônicas de Tarsila do Amaral publicadas no jornal Diário de S. Paulo entre os anos de 1936 e 1956, e republicadas na antologia organizada por Laura Taddei Brandini, em 2008.

Esta dissertação procurou lançar diferentes interpretações sobre a forma como a cidade foi re-presentada nas revistas Klaxon (1922), Martín Fierro (1924), Revista de Antropofagia (1928) e Sur (1931), publicadas em São Paulo e em Buenos Aires por grupos considerados parte das vanguardas literárias na América Latina. Partindo-se das leituras decorrentes da Escola da De-pendência, perpassando os Estudos Culturais Urbanos e chegando às teorias Pós-Coloniais (sempre dentro da relação entre a crítica literária e a história urbana), buscou-se questionar a ideia de modernidade à qual se habituou associar a conformação das cidades latino-americanas no início do século XX. Com isso, pretende-se demonstrar como a multiplicidade de olhares existente nas diferentes abordagens historiográficas adotadas, mais do que se contraporem ou se substituírem, se complementam, gerando uma riqueza de análise que permite uma constante reinterpretação dos episódios históricos; análise que, feita sobre o conteúdo da fonte primária, pode ser projetada no presente contribuindo para uma melhor compreensão da nossa condição atual. Assim, se em um primeiro momento a leitura das representações urbanas pode apresentar cidades aparentemente homogeneízadas, aos poucos elas são destituídas das interpretações esta-belecidas pela história moderna, apontando para matizes culturais próprios; paralelamente, a identificação das suas semelhanças deixam de corresponder a um ideal de modernidade univer-sal para sugerir a existência de uma estrutura narrativa construída para ocultar as ferramentas de dominação cultural próprias da sociedade moderna burguesa herdeira do sistema colonialista. / This work intends to do different interpretations of how the city was represented in magazines Klaxon (1922), Martín Fierro (1924), Revista de Antropofagia (1928) e Sur (1931), published in São Paulo and Buenos Aires by groups considered part of the Avant-garde Literature in Latin America. Starting from the Dependence School readings, passing through the Urban Cultural Studies and reaching the Post-colonial theories (always within the relationship between literary criticism and urban history), we sought to question the idea of modernity, often associated with the formation of Latin American cities in the early twentieth century. As a result, it was possible to demonstrate how the multiplicity of perspectives in the different historiographical approach-es, rather than contradict or replace, they complement each other, generating a wealth of analy-sis that allows a constant reinterpretation of historical events. This analysis, done on the content of selected texts, can be projected into the present contributing to a better understanding of our present condition. So, if the first impression upon the urban representations is that they may have apparently homogenized cities, they are gradually devoid of all the established interpreta-tions by modern history, pointing to cultural nuances. At the same time, the similarities between them suggest the existence of a narrative structure built to hide the tools of cultural domination belonging to the modern bourgeois society, heiress of the colonial system.

This thesis presents a conceptual examination of the modernist director read through Gillian Rose's speculative lenses of the 'broken middle'. Highlighting the significance of speculative philosophy, I explore the meaning of the director as a mediating subjectivity. I demonstrate how a speculative reading of the director can act as a corrective to the received totalitarian, despotic image of the director. I urge for the rehabilitation of the director as a history and as a practice and I propose the emergence of this figure as being the outcome of a complex theatrical articulation entangled with the discipline of philosophy. Combining close readings of philosophical texts by Rose, Plato, Castoriadis, Badiou, Rancière, Laclau and Mouffe, among several other intellectual references in this study, I explore the director as a mode or trope of embodied philosophy. My argument also proposes the director as an Event, in Badiou's definition, and I trace this configuration as already taking place with the 'tragic' paradigm of the Athenian theatre. This Event of the director, I then argue, gets fully inaugurated in modernism as the Event of thought in theatre. I explore how the director acting as a mediator transforms theatre to what Puchner calls 'a theatre of ideas' while simultaneously philosophy becomes itself transformed to a theatre of thought. Chapter 1 outlines the key strands of Rose's thought and sets out the theoretical parameters of my examination. The chapter argues for a speculative reading of the director cross-examined with current positions within theatre historiography. The chapter paves a new understanding of the director, not historically, but conceptually, as a mode of embodied thought. Chapter 2 explores the relationship between the primacy and centrality of the aesthetic paradigm of theatre in philosophy and the role and practice of the poet - or 'chorodidaskalos' - who I consider as an early philosophical figuration of the modern director. I highlight speculative 'aporia' which in Rose indicates a path 'without a path' as the primary modality of thinking philosophically, already at work in tragedy, that renders the modernist director as a theatrical thinker. Chapter 3 puts forward the case of the director's mediating subjectivity by arguing for the Event of the director. I analyse Badiou's philosophy of the Event, making connections to speculative philosophy and illuminating the Evental dimension of this figure. Chapter 4 moves the examination to the Event of the director that I locate in Richard Wagner. My reading explores the philosophical dimension of Wagner as an artist and a thinker by which I rehabilitate his overtly negative image. I do this by reading Left Hegelianism, and anarchist philosophy more broadly, in Wagner's operatic works, writings, and political activism. Chapter 5 examines the 'speculative director' in the aesthetic project of Naturalism and Realism. The chapter includes a published section by which I explore the political mode of the director indirectly, by examining the articulatory discourse in Laclau and Mouffe's definition and the practice of affirmation. Chapter 6 looks at the avant-garde manifesto as a form of meta-language that seeks to actively re-shape theatre and the world as embodied, declaimed philosophy. The chapter repositions the avant-garde's aesthetic preoccupation with failure as a profoundly transformative project rather than as being incomplete. The included published article examines more closely the affinity between the Spartacus Manifesto by Rose Luxemburg (philosophy) and the more politicized forms of the Dada Berlin manifesto art (theatre). Chapter 7 is the concluding chapter by which I argue the case of the director finally having entered the theatre as a philosopher; that is, through Bertolt Brecht.

The use and firing of clay to make art instead of vessels was a revolutionary concept in Japan when it first was introduced by Hayashi Yasuo in 1948 with Cloud, and expanded upon by Yagi Kazuo in 1954 with Mr. Samsa’s Walk. Although both avant-garde artists were major forces in the advancement of abstract, nonfunctional ceramics, Yagi is usually given sole credit and occupies a prominent place in the literature, while Hayashi’s name can scarcely be found, despite his numerous international awards, large body of work and career spanning seven decades. This thesis seeks to identify the factors that influenced the direction of their careers and the unbalanced reception of their work. It compares their backgrounds, personality traits, avant-garde affiliations, and positions on art and ceramics, in relation to the norms and prerequisites for success in Kyoto’s deeply stratified, convention-bound ceramic community. The pervasive practice of rating and society’s emphasis on affiliation and rank were significant forces in this situation, as were issues that divided Japan’s art world -- the separation and unequal ranking of fine art and traditional craft, or the value of individual expression versus technique and tradition. Ultimately, this study reveals an insular world during a decade (1946–56) of crisis and transition that is rarely studied in the West from the perspective of ceramic art.