Tristan Tzara was a French- and Romanian-language poet, essayist and thinker most commonly remembered as the monocled figurehead of Dada, the quintessential avant-garde phenomenon that emerged in Zurich during WWI. Central within the organisation and performance of the relatively short-lived Dada

of the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, Tzara would ultimately prove crucial to the survival and development of Dada as one of the most enduring aspects of European Modernism, and which was also a fundamental precursor to Surrealism. In the years 1916-1922 (in the latter of which Tzara joyfully declared the death of Dada) Tzara edited and produced the

journal, organised numerous exhibitions at a Dada gallery in Zurich, prepared two volumes of his own French-language Dada poetry (

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Citation: Forcer, Stephen. "Tristan Tzara". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11954, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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