Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor - Hugo Ball

Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor by Hugo Ball, illustrations by Tal R / ISBN 9781939663030 / 200-page paperback with flaps from Wakefield Press *** “The idea of the Cabaret Voltaire grew out of literary thoughts as well as the slum atmosphere of the music-hall performers, the singers, the magicians, fire-eaters, and others portrayed by Ball in his novel Flametti.”—Richard Huelsenbeck In 1916, Hugo Ball (1886–1927) cofounded the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich and penned the “Dada Manifesto,” launching what would become the Zurich Dada movement. That same year he completed his semi-autobiographical novel, Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor, which would be published two years later. Drawing from his pre-Dada period of struggle and poverty in the nightclub circuit, Ball immerses us in the rise and fall of Max Flametti and his vaudeville company. Fishing in the local river to feed his company, dabbling in drugs, strolling through the vegetable market on the Gemüsebrücke in Zurich, duc