Flametti, or
the dandyism of the poor

translated and read
by Catherine Schelbert

Catherine Schelbert’s reading of Flametti, or the dandyism of the poor is a collaborative project by FGAs editors Robert Hamelijnck and Nienke Terpsma, and Catherine Schelbert. It is published as FGA#44 to celebrate FGAs 20th anniversary, and consists of an (online) audiobook/radio play, a read-along paperback, and 10-inch yellow vinyl record with two 15-minute scenes.

As a preview, you can listen to two scenes here.

This 6-hour, 40-minute audiobook is a sonic experience, enriched by Dada-inspired music that reflects the chaotic spirit of the novel. The read-along paperback invites listeners to engage with the text, while the 10-inch vinyl record offers a tactile and auditory experience. Soundscape and tunes created by Robert Hamelijnck, Nina Hitz, and Nienke Terpsma, it also features performances by Vilbjørg Broch, Lukas Simonis, Klaas Hekman & Wu Wei, and Christien Coetzee.

“Flametti is a novel that believes in art, and that believes in people. But it’s not at all clear why.”
Hannah Alpert-Abrams, Full Stop

"I have rarely experienced a translation that has been surrounded by so much love, dedication and artistic care as this one."
Ton Naaijkens, FILTER (Dutch magazine on translating)

Flametti, or the dandyism of the poor is a dark satirical comedy about an impoverished vaudeville company and the rise and fall of its director Max Flametti, a figure of tragic proportions entangled in his inescapable self. It is also the story of the allure of the “Fuchsweide, the concert and entertainment quarter of the off-beat, fun-loving crowd,” which is in danger of being "cleansed" by the police. This deceptively straightforward, everyman tale eloquently renders the complex, conflicted, non-professionalized, messy, forgotten humus of a vibrant urban scene that prevailed in Zurich over a hundred years ago.

Hugo Ball wrote his hilarious, provocative, largely overlooked, semi-autobiographical novel in 1916, the same year he, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, and others founded Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Their artist-run nightclub existed for less than a year and gave birth to Dada as a form of artistic protest against the brutality of the First World War raging in Europe. They spread their ideas in absurd, grotesque performances, sound poetry, and manifestos. It is from this cultural and political context that the novel Flametti emerged.

“The idea of Cabaret Voltaire grew out of literary thoughts as well as the slum atmosphere of the musichall performers, the singers, the magicians, the fire-eaters and the others portrayed by Ball in his novel Flametti.”
Richard Huelsenbeck, Memoirs of a Dada Drummer

Content warning: The novel contains historical slang including cultural, racist, and sexist stereotyping.

Catherine Schelbert’s translation of Flametti oder Vom Dandysmus der Armen, the first-ever in English, was published by Wakefield Press in 2014 and awarded the Helen & Kurt Wolff  Translation Prize in 2015.

©2024 FGA (Robert Hamelijnck and Nienke Terpsma), Nina Hitz, Catherine Schelbert, and everyone who participated.