First Adventure to Final Flight

Erica O’Neill is a lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Glasgow, where she specialises in modern and contemporary visual and performing arts with a focus on avant-garde practices. Over time her interests have moved from historical studies of the European avant-garde (Dada and Surrealism) and single-author studies (Tristan Tzara) to investigating the application of avant-garde praxis to contemporary social, cultural, and political issues, with a focus on global art and activism. As part of her ongoing interest in the relationship between the avant-garde and contemporary global challenges, she contributes to the practice of Dada performance to promote the ongoing relevance of avant-garde approaches to twenty-first-century experience. Her recent publications include 'Approximate Humanism: Tristan Tzara', with Stephen Forcer (Dada/Surrealism 25, 2025), which includes her English translation of Tzara’s La Fuite; and ‘Attention! Paris Dada’, with Kathryn Brown (Nottingham French Studies 62, no. 2, 2023). Her chapter ‘Manifestos, Dolls, and The Royal Family: First Nations Australian Reverse Avant-Garde’ is forthcoming in the book A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in Oceania, edited by Andrew McNamara and Ann Stephen.

• Contents: Introduction – The Theatrical Theatre of Tristan Tzara – Avant- Gardism and Classicism in Tzara’s Dramaturgy – Hamlet and Helen of Troy in Tzara’s Language Collages – Tzara’s Theatre of the Absurd – Tzara’s Humanism and the Flight – Tristan Tzara: Pioneering Playwright – Conclusion: Tristan Tzara: Pioneering Playwright.