Alphabet by Vítězslav Nezval (1900-1959) is widely recognized today as a consummate Czech contribution to European modernism and a unique distillation of the creative spirit of the 1920’s. Published originally in 1926, it is a composite of experimental poetry, modern dance, and photomontage typography, by the poet Vítězslav Nezval, dancer Milča Mayerová, and typographer Karel Teige. This idiosyncratic and idiomatic work transports the reader-viewer through the discipline and fantasy of the modern age. The contributions of Karel Teige, the leading spokesperson for Devĕtsil and avant-garde ideas in interwar Czechoslovakia, has secured the book international fame in recent years. Teige’s original layout, designed to create “an optical language, a system of signs capable of embodying words in graphic figures,” has been preserved in this facsimile edition.

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Publisher: Michigan Slavic Publications

Year of Publication: 2001

Location: Dept. of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Michigan

# of Pages: 69

Price: 42.00

ISBN: 978-0-930042-88-2

Format: Paperback

Series Name / Number: Czech Translation Series (CZT) / 3

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