EYE-COVER ART-COVER CORSET-COVER 
AUTHORIZATION 
NEW YORK-DADA: 
You ask for authorization to name 
your periodical Dada. But Dada be 
longs to everybody. I know excellent 
people who have the name Dada. Mr. 
Jean Dada; Mr. Gaston de Dada; Fr. 
Picabia’s dog is called Zizi de Dada; 
in G. Ribemont-Dessaigne’s play, the 
pope is likewise named Zizi de Dada. 
I could cite dozens of examples. Dada 
belongs to everybody. Like the idea 
of God or of the tooth-brush. There 
are people who are very dada, more 
dada; there are dadas everywere all 
over and in every individual. Like 
God and the toothlbrush (an excellent 
invention, by the way). 
Dada is a new type; a mixture of 
man, naphthaline, sponge, animal 
made of ebonite and beefsteak, pre 
pared with soap for cleansing the 
brain. Good teeth are the making of 
the stomach and beautiful teeth are 
the making of a charming smile. 
Halleluiah of ancient oil and injection 
of rubber. 
There is nothing abnormal about 
my choice of Dada for the name of my 
review. In Switzerland I was in the 
company of friends and was hunting 
the dictionary for a word appropriate 
to the sonorities of all languages. 
Night was upon us when a green hand 
placed its ugliness on the page of 
Larousse—pointing very precisely to 
Dada—my choice was made. I lit a 
cigarette and drank a demitasse. 
For Dada was to say nothing and to 
lead to no explanation of this offshoot 
of relationship which is not a dogma 
nor a school, but rather a constellation 
of individuals and of free facets. 
Dada existed before us (the Holy 
Virgin) but one cannot deny its mag 
ical power to add to this already ex 
isting spirit and impulses of penetra 
tion and diversity that characterizes 
its present form. 
There is nothing more incompre 
hensible than Dada. 
Nothing more indefinable. 
With the best will in the world I 
cannot tell you what I think of it. 
The journalists who say that Dada 
is a pretext are right, but it is a pre 
text for something I do not know. 
Dada has penetrated into every 
hamlet; Dada is the best paying con 
cern of the day. 
Therefore, Madam, be on your 
guard and realize that a really dada 
product is a different thing from a 
glossy label. 
Dada abolishes “nuances.” Nu 
ances do not exist in words but only 
in some atrophied brains whose cells 
are too jammed. Dada is an anti 
“nuance” cream. The simple motions 
that serve as signs for deaf-mutes are 
quite adequate to express the four or 
five mysteries we have discovered 
within 7 or 8,000 years. Dada offers 
all kinds of advantages. Dada will 
soon be able to boast of having shown 
people that to say “right” instead of 
“left” is neither less nor too logical, 
that red and valise are the same thing; 
that 2765 = 34; that “fool” is a 
merit; that yes = no. Strong in 
fluences are making themselves felt in 
politics, in commerce, in language. 
The whole world and what’s in it has 
slid to the left along with us. Dada 
has inserted its syringe into hot bread, 
to speak allegorically into language. 
Little by little (large by large) it de 
stroys it. Everything collapses with 
logic. And we shall see certain liber 
ties we constantly take in the sphere of 
sentiment, social life, morals, once 
more become normal standards. These 
liberties no longer will be looked upon 
as crime, but as itches. 
I will close with a little international 
song: Order from the publishing 
house “La Sirene” 7 rue Pasquier, 
Paris, Dadaglobe, the work of dadas 
from all over the world. Tell your 
bookseller that this book will soon be 
out of print. You will have many 
agreeable surprises. 
Read Dadaglobe if you have trou 
bles. Dadaglobe is in press. Here 
are some of its colloborators: 
Paul Citroen (Amsterdam); Baader 
Daimonides; R. Hausmann; W. Heart- 
field; H. Hoech; R. Huelsenbeck; G. 
Grosz; Fried Hardy Worm (Berlin); 
Clement Pansaers (Bruxelles); Mac 
Robber (Calcutta); Jacques Edwards 
(Chili); Baargeld, Armada v. Dulge- 
dalzen, Max Ernst, F. Haubrich (Col 
ogne) ; K. Schwitters (Hannovre); 
J. K. Bonset (Leyde); Guillermo de 
Torre (Madrid); Gino Cantarelli; E. 
Bacchi, A. Fiozzi (Mantoue); Kru- 
senitch (Moscou); A. Vagts (Mu 
nich) ; W. C. Arensberg, Gabrielle 
Buffet, Marcel Duchamp; Adon La 
croix; Baroness v. Loringhoven; Man 
Ray; Joseph Stella; E. Varese; A. 
Stieglitz; M. Hartley; C. Kahler (New 
York); Louis Aragon; C. Brancusi; 
Andre Breton; M. Buffet; S. Char- 
ehoune; J. Crotti; Suzanne Duchamp; 
Paul Eluard; Benjamin Peret; Francis 
Picabia; G. Ribemont-Dessaignes; J. 
Rigaut, Soubeyran; Ph. Soupault, 
Tristan Tzara (Paris); Melchior Vis- 
cher (Prague); J. Evola (Rome); 
Arp; S. Taeuber (Zurich). 
The incalculable number of pages 
of reproductions and of text is a guar 
anty of the success of the book. Ar 
ticles of luxury, of prime necessity, 
articles indispensable to hygiene and 
to the heart, toilet articles of an inti 
mate nature. 
Such, Madame, do we prepare for 
Dadaglobe; for you need look no fur 
ther than to the use of articles pre 
pared without Dada to account for the 
fact that the skin of your heart is 
chapped; that the so precious enamel 
of your intelligence is cracking; also 
for the presence of those tiny wrinkles 
still imperceptible but nevertheless 
disquieting. 
All this and much else in Dada 
globe. 
Tristan Tzara.