Andrew A. Anderson’s new study on the Ultraist movement is an instant classic.
Scholars of this Spanish avant-garde have long been relying on a couple of
texts to find historical context to their investigations. Among these texts are
Gloria Videla’s El ultraísmo: Estudios sobre movimientos poéticos de vanguardia
en España (Ultraism: Studies on Poetic Avant-garde Movements in Spain, 1963)
as well as the indispensable essays by Juan Manuel Bonet, such as “Baedecker
del Ultraismo” (1996) and his introduction to Las cosas se han roto (Things
Have Broken, 2012), the most complete anthology of Ultraist poetry to date.1
Anderson’s book El momento ultraísta: Origenes, fundación y lanzamiento de
una vanguardia (The Ultraist Moment: Origins, Foundation and Launch of a
Vanguard, 2017) joins the ranks of these texts. It will be indispensable for any
serious examination of the origins of the Spanish and Hispanic avant-gardes.