The term ‘hooligan’ or in Romanian ‘huligan’, was used in the 1930s Romania by right-wing extremists and fascists to describe undesirable people, among them, the Romanian Jews.
The term penetrated the cultural world in 1935 when the Jewish Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian published “How I Became a Hooligan” where he addresses the absurdity of the hate directed at him, defending his right to be both Romanian and Jewish, and analyzing the ‘hooliganism’ of the intellectual antisemitism of the time.
I believe Isidore Isou was familiar with Sebatian’s book and going to Paris in 1945 he adopted the term to reflect contemptuous attitude towards all previous art movements. It was aimed especially at the patron saints of Dadaism and Surrealism, Tristan Tzara and Andre Breton respectively, as a negation of Dada and Surrealism influence on Lettrisme.
The recent incarnation of the term ‘huligan’ was Norman Manea’s 2003 book “The Return of the Hooligan” where he describes the persecuted, marginalized, or maladjusted intellectual in an extreme political context. Manea's ‘hooligan’ represents the exiled, misfit intellectual who survived both the Holocaust and the communism.
The term ‘hooligan’ or in Romanian ‘huligan’, was used in the 1930s Romania by right-wing extremists and fascists to describe undesirable people, among them, the Romanian Jews.
The term penetrated the cultural world in 1935 when the Jewish Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian published “How I Became a Hooligan” where he addresses the absurdity of the hate directed at him, defending his right to be both Romanian and Jewish, and analyzing the ‘hooliganism’ of the intellectual antisemitism of the time.
I believe Isidore Isou was familiar with Sebatian’s book and going to Paris in 1945 he adopted the term to reflect contemptuous attitude towards all previous art movements. It was aimed especially at the patron saints of Dadaism and Surrealism, Tristan Tzara and Andre Breton respectively, as a negation of Dada and Surrealism influence on Lettrisme.
The recent incarnation of the term ‘huligan’ was Norman Manea’s 2003 book “The Return of the Hooligan” where he describes the persecuted, marginalized, or maladjusted intellectual in an extreme political context. Manea's ‘hooligan’ represents the exiled, misfit intellectual who survived both the Holocaust and the communism.
Feeling some feelings (mostly longing) irt being transported to an Anthology screening. Weather balloon?!?
yes, teleport on down!