Ego-Futurism was a Russian literary movement that began in the 1910s. It was part of Russian Futurism and was started by Igor Severyanin and his early followers. Although it was connected to Russian Futurism, Ego-Futurism was different from the Moscow-based cubo-futurists. Instead, it was linked to poets and artists who worked in Saint Petersburg.

Background

In 1909, the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti started the Futurist movement by publishing the Manifesto of Futurism. This document encouraged a complete rejection of the past in favor of a modern world. Soon, Marinetti had many followers, including the painter Umberto Boccioni and the musician Luigi Russolo. In 1910, Marinetti traveled to Russia to share his ideas. That same year, the first Russian Futurist group, called "Hylea," was formed. It was led by David and Wladimir Burliuk and included poets who later became Cubo-Futurists, the rivals of the Ego-Futurists.

Igor Severyanin, the founder of Ego-Futurism, was already a poet. He wrote under the influence of two Russian Impressionist poets, Konstantin Fofanov and Mirra Lokhvitskaya. His Futurist ideas were forming in 1910, and by 1911, he was ready.

History

Ego-Futurism began in either the summer or November of that year when Severyanin published a small brochure called Prolog (Ego-Futurism). This was the first Ego-Futurist publication. It criticized current poetry, claimed that poetry would need to change completely to fit modern times, and stated that Severyanin was already famous across Russia. A group of four poets, who called themselves the "Ego-group," had formed earlier that October. They released their manifesto after Prolog was published and began their activities in January of the next year.

The four original members—Severyanin, Konstantin Olimpov (Fofanov's son), Georgy Ivanov, and Graal Arelsky—then issued a manifesto explaining their goals. They renamed themselves the "Academy of Ego-Poetry." The group held loud public events to gain attention, but little is known about these events. The beliefs of Ego-Futurism were based on a focus on the poet's individual importance and a dislike of large groups of people.

In November 1912, after an argument with Olimpov and a new member, Ivan Ignatiev, Severyanin left the group. However, he still considered himself an Ego-Futurist and continued to publish in their books. Ignatiev took leadership of the group and, in a January 1913 manifesto signed by him and new members, changed the academy's name to its current title. One important poet from this later stage was Vasilisk Gnedov. In 1913, he published a book where the number of words in each poem decreased, ending with the phrase "The Poem of the End" on a blank page. His style was most similar to the Cubo-Futurists.

By 1913, groups influenced by Ego-Futurism appeared, such as the "Mezzanine of Poetry," founded by Vadim Shershenevich. This group ended by 1914, and Shershenevich joined the Cubo-Futurists.

From the start, Ego-Futurism and Cubo-Futurism had differences. For example, Ego-Futurists included Symbolist poetry in their publications, while Cubo-Futurists rejected all past influences, even claiming that famous authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky should be "pushed off the steamboat of modernity." Severyanin criticized the Cubo-Futurists for being too objective and instead supported a more personal approach. While other Russian Futurists called Ego-Futurists childish and crude, Severyanin argued that his focus on bold emotions, new words, and self-centered ideas fit the definition of Futurism.

Despite their differences, the groups briefly joined together in 1914. However, Shershenevich was involved, and he used a group tour to publish an attack in their journal against the Ego-Futurists and a Moscow Futurist group called "Centrifuge." Boris Pasternak, a member of Centrifuge, responded with a satirical article, leading to arguments between members of the groups about who were the true first Futurists.

In 1913–14, Cubo-Futurist poets Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vasilly Kamensky, and David Burliuk toured Russia with poetry performances. Severyanin sometimes joined them, but their collaboration ended after an argument with Burliuk and Mayakovsky.

The movement began to decline when Severyanin left the group in 1912 to pursue a solo career and ended completely by 1916.

Poets related to Ego-Futurism

• Sergey Alymov
• Graal Arelsky
• Vadim Bayan
• Vasilisk Gnedov
• Boris Gusman
• Georgy Ivanov
• Ivan Ignatiev
• Pavel Kokorin
• Ivan Lukash
• Igor Severyanin
• Peter Larionov
• Dmitri Kryuchkov
• Konstantin Olimpov
• Rurik Ivnev
• Vadim Shershenevich
• Georgy Shengeli
• Pavel Shirokov
• Lev Zak