396 Mostly Medieval 1. Functionalism of medieval modernism vs formalism of the English avant-garde Modernism as a cultural, literary, and artistic movement seems to contradict medieval sympathies. Emerging at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, in reaction to Victorian heritage and attachment to past traditions and stable relations, it heralded a monumental rift with past traditions, championing the modern, the present-day, the contemporary, and the future—while eschewing any signs of the old with which medieval aesthetics and medievalism tended to be associated. Moreover, the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 meant to many that an era had ended, and there were signs of revolutionary changes approaching in all spheres of life, characterized by “an open breach with the past, or even abolition of the past” (Kermode et al. 1973: 1512). Einstein’s theory of relativity, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Freud’s psychoanalysis, and the Suffragettes movement were only a few indicators of approaching change, having a practical meaning in tendencies such as the disintegration of family life, a growth of insanity rate, increasing secular and materialistic values, increased instability and uncertainty, as well as a growth of nationalism and communism, among others. Of all the modernist movements, arguably it was Italian Futurism that undermined the past the most in its hostile, buoyant, and decisive rejection of any embodiment of tradition and the past, and in its embrace of modernity with its rapid industrialization and modernization. These views were widely popularized in London during Marinetti’s numerous visits in 1910, 1912, and 1914, as the Italian leader tried to radicalize English society and culture, and turn it against history during special events, exhibitions and talks. In the “Founding Manifesto of Futurism,” Marinetti openly spoke about the beauty of the machine and speed, boldly asserting that “[a] racing car, its bonnet decked with exhaust pipes like serpents with galvanic breath […] a roaring motor car, which seems to race on like machine-gun fire is more beautiful than the Winged Victory of Samothrace” and “that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed,” radically eliminating the past in favor of technological development; praising the machine, speed, and violence; calling their followers to destroy museums and libraries in their demand for the eradication of the past. Their excitement with industrial progress was manifested in their praise for “railway stations, voraciously devouring smoke-belching serpents […] broad-breasted locomotives champing on the wheels like enormous steel horses, bridled
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