SOURCE: "Symbolism in the Streets: Tristan Tzara," in I Am a Process with No Subject, University of Florida Press, 1988, pp. 27-52.

In the following excerpt, Beitchman examines Tzara's poetic utopianism, particuarly his determination to force his readers into a more satisfying future by separating them from the limitations of the past.

In his epic-length poem of 1931, L'Homme approximatif (Approximate Man), Tzara deepens and further defines his rejection of exoticism and points to the possibility of realizing an authentic destiny and purpose for mankind; as a preliminary to this evolution, man must strip himself of the excess baggage of his past and the notions, based on insufficient logic and reason, with which he has hitherto tried to control his life. Tzara is now looking forward to a future that is as utterly new as the first page of an unread book:¹¹

 but let the door open at last like...