Professor of Spanish and Iberian Studies
A Sickening Modernity: Biomedicine, Pathology, and the Body in Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s Avant-Gardism
The scientific advancements that transformed society during the early twentieth century greatly affected how avant-gardists approached science and its functions and aims. Futurists, Cubists, Dadaists, and Surrealists were cautious about aspects of science that were incompatible with their projects of cultural renewal and self- realization. While the biomedical sciences were an integral part of this conversation, the remarkable story of how they became a driving force of the avant-garde remains largely untold. Taking the work of the Spanish avant-gardist Ramón Gómez de la Serna as my case study, my interdisciplinary project will put Historical Avant- garde Studies and (Bio)Medical Humanities into dialogue to elucidate this issue.