An Other Transnationalism: Romanian Jewish Emigrants in Francophone Avant-Garde Literature

Abstract

In recent years, avant-garde studies has given rise to several models, such as geopolitical and aesthetic networks, in order to describe the exchanges of influences and innovations that have taken place on a transnational level during the interwar period and the postwar years. However, so far no comprehensive study has examined these networks from an ethnic and cultural perspective, nor has any study focused on the "other transnationalism" that developed alongside French transnational modernism. This "other transnationalism" operates according to a dual dynamic of dispersion and cohesion, since the artists who contributed to it form a cohesive community but were simultaneously affected by geographical dispersion. In practice, this transnationalism assumed various forms that went beyond the canonical forms of the historical French avant-gardes: for instance, Jewish artists had the opportunity to exchange ideas derived from the Jewish tradition, such as the Kabbalah, regardless of which avant-garde movement they were affiliated with. The Jewishness of these artists thus functioned as a lingua franca, but their avant-gardism was likely to exclude them from their religious and cultural community. This liminal position, which stems from the occasional overlap of francophone and Jewish transnationalisms, has allowed francophone Jewish artists to question the autonomy and canon of the French avant-garde. This article analyzes the work of Jewish artists who were born and spent their early, tentative years in Romania, and who contributed to the French avant-gardes abroad as some of their leading voices.