Revenant ReIssue #3: Z (Issue 1, March 1920)

#3 in the Revenant ReIssues Series, this small pamphlet translates the first and only issue of the Dada magazine Z in its entirety.

Translated by Olchar E. Lindsann.

Z was one of many short-lived journals launched in the course of the Paris Dada movement, this one edited by the poet Paul Dermée. Though lack of funds limited it to this single issue, it is packed with contributions from ten Dadas, many of them represented by several poems and non-sequiturs. Poems and manifestos are mixed with acerbic jabs at the group’s current enemies (especially Jean Cocteau and André Gide) and reports on the movement’s growing international notoriety.

This slim zine presents Issue 1 of Z in its entirety, with most or all of its contents appearing in English for the first time, and with the design, typography, and presentation reproducing the original as closely as possible within the limits of a DIY micropress, including standardized paper sizes & public domain fonts. The type in the original is, in many places, almost unreadably small to modern eyes, and some compromises have been made in leading, margins, and text size for the benefit of contemporary readers. Included is a tipped-in sheet with introduction and translator's notes.

Featuring texts by: Paul Dermée, Théodore Fraenkel, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Tristan Tzara, Céline Arnaud, Georges Ferré, André Breton, Louis Aragon, Francis Picabia, Philippe Soupault, & Paul Eluard.