Theory at Work | 51F. t. Marinetti Cover for
Zang Tumb Tumb, 1914. In this book
Marinetti celebrates the Battle of
Tripoli through his concept of words-
in-freedom. According to this futurist
concept, typography should reflect
the raw, emotional power of language
rather than rely on established rules
of syntax and punctuation.
As Marinetti explained in his 1913
manifesto, “Destruction of Syntax—
Untrammeled Imagination—Words-in-
Freedom,” “My revolution is directed
against the so-called typographic
harmony of the page, which contra-
dicts the ebb and flow, the leaps and
bounds of style that surge over the
page.... I don’t want to evoke an idea
or a sensation with these traditionalist
charms or affectations, I want to seize
them roughly and hurl them straight
in the reader’s face.”^1
1 F. T. Marinetti, “Destruction of Syntax—
Untrammeled Imagination—Words-in-Freedom,”
in F. T. Marinetti: Critical Writings, ed. Günter
Berghaus, trans. Doug Thompson (New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), 128.