Speaking East: The Strange and Enchanted Life of Isidore Isou

by Andrew Hussey

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A vibrant account of both the sensuous cultural scene of postwar Paris and the life of an alluring icon of modern art.

Isidore Isou was a young Jew in wartime Bucharest who barely survived the Romanian Holocaust. He made his way to Paris, where, in 1945, he founded the avant-garde movement Lettrism, described as the missing link between Dada, Surrealism, Situationism, and May '68. In Speaking East, Andrew Hussey presents a colorful picture of the postwar Left Bank, where Lettrist fists flew in avantgarde punch-ups in Jazz clubs and cafes, and where Isou-as sexy and as charismatic as the young Elvis-gathered around him a group of hooligan disciples who argued, drank, and had sex with the Parisian intellectual elite. This is a vibrant account of the life and times of a pivotal figure in the history of modern art.
  • ISBN10 1789144922
  • ISBN13 9781789144925
  • Publish Date 13 September 2021
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Imprint Reaktion Books
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 324
  • Language English