Dr Peter Zusi's Groundbreaking Book Launches in Munich and Bristol

Dr Peter Zusi, Associate Professor of Czech and Comparative Literature at UCL SSEES has recently published a book titled ‘The Integrity of the Avant-Garde: Karel Teige and the Biography of an Ambition.’ The launch events took place on 17 April at the Centre for East and Southeast European History at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, and on 16 May at the University of Bristol.

Read the book synopsis below: 

On what grounds do we speak of 'the avant-garde' in inter-war European culture? Why do we understand the conflicts and quarrels among these diverse movements as expressing a shared attitude - the culture of the manifesto, the drive to reject, to explore, to renew - that trumps the conflicts and quarrels themselves? Why do the stern rationalism of a functionalist building and the irreverent irrationalism of a Dadaist performance seem heralds of a similar spirit? The Czech avant-garde theorist Karel Teige (1900-1951) regarded architecture and film as providing the key to formulating a unified theory that would capture this 'integrity of the avant-garde'. Teige - whose thought has many points of contact with celebrated figures such as Georg Luk cs and Walter Benjamin, and who was a close associate of Le Corbusier, Andr Breton, and Hannes Meyer - reveals how a vibrant 'alternative' avant-garde tradition can raise central questions for understanding European modernism more broadly.

An official UCL launch will take place in the autumn; please look out for further information.

Image 1: Dr Peter Zusi and Dr Rajendra Chitnis of the University of Oxford and SSEES alum at the Bristol launch event.  

Image 2: Dr Peter Zusi and Dr Felix Jeschke of LMU and SSEES alum at the Munich launch event.