Lessons from the Dada Literary Movement
(Excerpts from Invaluable.com, used with permission)
Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement that emerged in Zürich in 1916 out of opposition to World War I, the nationalism many believed led to the war, and the senselessness of its brutality. The movement itself is difficult to define because members wanted to evade the definition of a unified operation entirely; abandoning established artistic norms. It was the first conceptual art movement where the focus was not on crafting aesthetically pleasing art, but on creating things that challenged traditional art, the role of the artists, and societal issues.
While Dadaism was a particularly art-dominated movement, it also encouraged writers to explore new genres and think outside the box. Some even took to performing their written words to further their creativity and fuel others to join the movement. The whimsy and spontaneity of the movement impacted famous writers like T.S. Elliot, but the movement itself was originally coined by poet Hugo Ball.
The inexperienced Enver Eleven, a junior case officer for a mysterious organization known only as the Agency, serves as the primary lens through which the reader acclimates to a seemingly utopian future where white supremacy has been eradicated. Yet even then, it remains a precarious status quo. As Enver’s mentor Shunami Six reminds him: “You must remember, Agent Eleven, that this world, our world with its philosophy of humanity, with its attempt to care about every man, woman, and child, every last black-skinner fellow—and even the tragic albinos amongst us—is a recent construction. It is not so long ago that simply being born in a skin like ours would have been considered a crime.” With his elegant prose, Coovadia folds in to the absorbing spy novel a nuanced interrogation concerning race, identity, and humanity.