Abstract
‘I rebel, therefore we are’ introduces the proposed comparison of Dada and Existentialism by briefly summarising the ways in which Dada can be aligned with French Existentialism based in the individual members’ interests in theory, as well as the ways in which the French Existentialists incorporated Dada into their theoretical texts. From a springboard of Huelsenbeck’s 1957 essay ‘Dada and Existentialism’, this introduction assesses Huelsenbeck’s claim, while taking up his invitation to fully analyse the potential for links between the two movements. The introduction ends by positing the book’s main thesis: not only that there are substantive links between these two movements, but also that these are to be found through the foregrounding of a self based in a quest for authenticity, attained through ambiguity.
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Benjamin, E. (2016). Introduction: ‘I Rebel, Therefore We Are’. In: Dada and Existentialism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56368-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56368-2_1
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