Prophecy Forthcoming

We are pleased to announce a new forthcoming title: Words Like Fire: Prophecy and Apocalypse in Apollinaire, Marinetti and Pound by James P. Leveque, which will be volume 50 in our Studies In Comparative Literature series. That eye-catching cover is a painting by Luigi Russolo, which hangs in the gallery of his work at the medieval town of Portogruaro, northeast of Venice: we're very grateful to the gallery and municipality for their help. Usually called "Impressions of Bombardment (Shrapnels and Grenades)", it dates from 1926, and looks as if it could be almost any size — a miniature, the entire side of a building — but is in fact a conventional 1m by 1.3m.

By 1926, Russolo had long been a figure in Surrealist and Futurist circles: it's thought that he was the main author of the manifesto Against all Returns in Painting. His work isn't all bold geometry, and whereas the First World War brought out some violent motifs, the Second seems to have led him to calm contemplation. All of which is by the by, but I can't resist showing this photograph of the artist, playing his invention, the Russolophone, at a cinema in 1930:

James's book will appear in autumn 2018.