The first part of the twentieth century saw broad debates about the body and its capacities. The reduction of the body’s capacities, its growing similarity to mere things, its shut-down and reversion to a more primitive state, could indicate an overall decline, as in Nordau’s theories of degeneration. These shifts, however, could also pave the way for a new relation between things and humans—if properly appropriated and manipulated. In different ways, Futurism, biomechanics, Taylorization, and Russian avant-garde art movements in the first quarter of the twentieth century were optimistic about the potential that could be released if the human body and human society could be reorganized to more closely align with mechanical laws and properties. I will discuss how these new modes of work and new movements in art relate to the Yiddish author David Bergelson (1884-1952) with a particular focus on the creative potential of the glitch (a Yiddish word that has entered English).
MURAV noonhour