Lettrism (pronounced let-riz-uhm)
A French avant-garde art and literary movement
established in 1946 and inspired, inter alia, by Dada and surrealism. The coordinate term is situationism.
1946: From French lettrisme,
a variant of lettre (letter). Letter dates from the late twelfth century
and was from the From Middle English letter
& lettre, from the Old French
letre, from the Latin littera (letter of the alphabet (in
plural); epistle; literary work), from the Etruscan, from the Ancient Greek
διφθέρᾱ (diphthérā)
(tablet) (and related to diphtheria). The form displaced the Old English bōcstæf (literally “book staff” in the
sense of “the alphabet’s symbols) and ǣrendġewrit
(literally “message writing” in the sense of “a written communication longer
than a “note” (ie, something like the modern understanding of “a letter”)). The –ism suffix was from the Ancient Greek
ισμός (ismós) & -isma noun suffixes, often directly,
sometimes through the Latin –ismus
& isma (from where English picked
up ize) and sometimes through the French –isme
or the German –ismus, all
ultimately from the Ancient Greek (where it tended more specifically to express
a finished act or thing done). It
appeared in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form abstract nouns of
action, state, condition or doctrine from verbs and on this model, was used as
a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice,
state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion
or adherence (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism;
witticism etc). Letterism is listed by some sources as an alternative
spelling but in literary theory it used in a different sense. Lettrism and lettrist are nouns; the noun
plural is letterists.
A Lettrist
was (1) one who practiced Lettrism or (2) a supporter or advocate of Lettrism. Confusingly, in the English-speaking world, the spelling Letterist has been
used in this context, presumably because it’s a homophone (if pronounced in the
“correct (U)” way) and the word is “available” because although one who keeps
as diary is a “diarist”, even the most prolific of inveterate letter writers
are not called “letterists”. The
preferred term for a letter-writer is correspondent, especially for those who
writes letters regularly or in an official capacity. The Letterist International (LI) was a
Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists which existed 1952-1957
before forming the Situationist International (SI), a trans-European,
unstructured collective of artists and political thinkers which eventually
became more a concept than a movement. Influenced
by the criticism that philosophy had tended increasingly to fail at the moment
of its actualization, the SI, although it assumed the inevitability of social
revolution, always maintained many (cross-cutting) strands of expectations of
the form(s) this might take. Indeed,
just as a world-revolution did not follow the Russian revolutions of 1917, the
events of May, 1968 failed to realize the predicted implications; the SI can be
said then to have died. The SI’s
discursive output between 1968 and 1972 may be treated either as a lifeless
aftermath to an anti-climax or a bunch of bitter intellectuals serving as mourners
at their own protracted funeral. In
literary theory, while “Lettrism” has a defined historical meaning, the use of
“letterism” is vague and not a recognized term although it has informally been
used (often with some degree of irony) of practices emphasizing the use of
letters or alphabetic symbols in art or literature and given the prevalence of
text of a symbolic analogue in art since the early twentieth century, it seem
surprising “letterism” isn’t more used in criticism. That is of course an Anglo-centric view of
things because the French Lettrists themselves are said to prefer the spelling
“Letterism”.
Jacques Derrida smoking pipe.
The French literary movement Lettrism was founded in
Paris in 1946 and the two most influential figures in the early years were the Romanian-born
French poet, film maker and political theorist Isidore Isou (1925–2007) and his
long-term henchman, the French poet, & writer Maurice Lemaître (1926-2018). Western Europe was awash with avant-garde
movements in the early post-war years but what distinguished Lettrism was its
focus on breaking down (deconstruction was not yet a term used in this sense) traditional
language and meaning by emphasizing the materiality of letters and sounds
rather than conventionally-assembled words. Scholars
of linguistics and the typographic community had of course long made a study of
letters, their form, variation and origin, but in Lettrism it was less about
the letters as objects than the act of dismantling the structures of language letters
created, the goal being the identification (debatably the creation) of new
forms of meaning through pure sound, visual abstraction and the aesthetic form
of letters. Although influenced most by Dada
and surrealism, the effect the techniques of political propaganda used during
the 1930s & 1940s was noted by the Lettrists and their core tenent was an
understanding of the letter itself as the fundamental building block of art and
literature. Often they would break down language
into letters or phonetic sounds, assessing and deploying them for their aesthetic
or auditory qualities rather than their conventional meaning(s). In that sense the Lettrists can be seen as
something as precursor of post-modernism’s later “everything is text” orthodoxy although that too has an interesting
origin. The French philosopher Jacques
Derrida (1930-2004) made famous the phrase “Il n'y a pas de hors-texte” which often is
translated as something like “there is no meaning beyond the text” but “hors-texte”
(outside the text) was printers’ jargon for those parts of a book without regular
page numbers (blank pages, copyright page, table of contents et al) and Derrida’s
point actually was the hors-texte must be regardes as a part of the text. There was much intellectual opportunism in
post modernism and for their own purposes it suited may to assert what Derrida said
was “There is nothing outside the text” and what he meant was “everything is
part of a (fictional) text and nothing is real” whereas his point was it’s not
possible to create a rule rigidly which delineates what is “the text” and what is “an appendage
to the text”. Troublingly for some post
modernists, Derrida did proceed on a case-by-case basis although he seems not to have explained how the meaning of the text in an edition of a book with an appended "This page is intentionally left blank" page might differ from one with no such page. It may be some earnest student of post-modernism has written an essay convincingly exactly that.
The Lettrism project was very much a rejection of traditional
language structures and the meanings they denoted; it was a didactic
endeavor, the Lettrists claiming not only had they transcended conventional
grammar & syntax but they could obviate even a need for meaning in
words, their work a deliberate challenge to their audiences to rethink how
language functions. As might be
imagined, their output was “experimental” and in addition to some takes on the
ancient form of “pattern poetry” included what they styled “concrete poetry”
& “phonetic poetry”, visual art and performance pieces which relied on abstraction,
the most enduring of which was the “hypergraphic”,
an object sometimes describe as “picture writing” which combined letters,
symbols, and images, blending visual and textual elements into a single art
form, often as collages or as graphic-like presentations on canvas or paper. This wasn’t a wholly new concept but the
lettrists vested it with new layers of meaning which, at least briefly,
intrigued many although it was dismissed also as “visual gimmickry” or that
worst of insults in the avant-garde: “derivative”. Despite being one of the many footnotes in
the history of modern art, Lettrism never went away and in a range of artistic
fields, even today there are those who style themselves “lettrists” and the
visual clues of the movement’s influence are all around us.
Chrysler’s letterism: The Chrysler 300 “letter series”
1955-1965.
The “letter series” Chrysler 300s were produced in
limited numbers in the US between 1955-1965; technically, they were the high-performance
version of the luxury Chrysler New Yorker and the
first in 1955 was labeled C-300, an allusion to the 300 hp (220 kW) 331 cubic
inch (5.4 litre) Hemi V8, then the most powerful engine offered in a production
car. The C-300 was well received and when
an updated version was released in 1956, it was dubbed 300B, the annual
releases appending the next letter in the alphabet as a suffix although in
1963 “I” was skipped because it was thought it might be confused with a “1” (ie
the numeral “one”), the same reasoning explaining why there are so few “I cup”
bras, some manufacturers filling the gap in the market between “H cup” & “J
cup” with an “HH cup” but there’s no evidence Chrysler’s concerns ever prompted
them to ponder a “300HH”.
Retrospectively thus, the 1955 C-300 is often described as the 300A
although this was never an official factory designation. While in the narrow technical sense not a
part of the “muscle car” lineage (defined by the notion of putting a “big”
car’s “big” engine into a smaller, lighter model), the letter series cars were
an important part of the “power race” of the 1950s and an evolutionary step in
what would emerge in 1964 as the muscle car branch and the most plausible LCA (last common ancestor of both was the Buick Century (1936-1942). The letter series was retired after 1965 because the
market preference for high-performance car had shifted to the smaller, lighter,
pony cars & intermediates (neither of which existed in the early years of
the 300) though the “non letter series” 300s (introduced in 1962) continued until 1971 with an toned-down emphasis on speed and a shift to style.
1955 Chrysler C-300 (300A).
The 1955 C-300 typified Detroit’s “mix & match”
approach to the parts bin in that it conjured something “new” at relatively low
cost, combining the corporation’s most powerful Hemi V8 with the New Yorker
Series (C-68) platform, the visual differentiation achieved by using the front
bodywork (the “front clip” in industry jargon) from the top-of-the-range
Imperial. The justification for the existence of the thing was
to fulfill the homologation requirements of NASCAR (National Association for
Stock Car Auto Racing) that a certain number of various components be sold to
the public before a car could be defined as a “production” car (ie a “stock”
car, a term which shamelessly would be prostituted in the years to come) and used
in sanctioned competition. Accordingly,
the C-300 was configured with the 331 cubic inch Hemi V8 fitted, with dual four
barrel carburetors, solid valve lifters and a high-lift camshaft profiled for
greater top-end power. Better to handle
the increased power, stiffer front and rear suspension was used and it was very
much in the tradition of the big, powerful grand-touring cars of the 1930s
such as the Duesenberg SJ, something that with little modification could be
competitive on the track. Very
successful in NASCAR racing, the C-300 also set a number of speed records in
timed trials but it was very much a niche product; despite the price not being
excessive for what one got, only 1,725 were made.
1956 Chrysler 300B (left) and Highway Hi-Fi phonograph player (right).
The 300B used a updated version of the C-300s body so
visually the two were similar although, ominously, the tailfins did grow a
little. The big news however lay under
the hood (bonnet) with the Hemi V8 enlarged to 354 cubic inches (5.8 litres)
and available either with 340 horsepower (254 kW) or in a high- compression
version generating 355 (365), the first time a US-built automobile was
advertised as producing greater than one horsepower per cubic inch of
displacement. It was a sign of the
times; other manufacturers took note.
The added power meant a top speed of around 140 mph (225 km/h) could be attained,
something now to ponder given the retardative qualities of the braking system
but also of note was that seson’s much talked-about option: the Highway Hi-Fi
phonograph player which allowed vinyl LP records to be played when the car was
on the move; the sound quality was remarkable good but on less than smooth
surfaces, experiences were mixed.
Success on the track continued, the 300B wining the Daytona Flying Mile
with a new record of 139.373 MPH, and it again dominated NASCAR, repeating the
C-300’s Grand National Championship.
Despite that illustrious record, only 1,102 were sold.
1957 Chrysler 300C.
The 1955-1956 Chryslers had a balance and elegance of
line which could have remained a template for the industry but there were other
possibilities and these Detroit choose to pursue, creating a memorable era of
extravagance but one which proved a stylistic cul-de-sac. The 1957 300C undeniably was dramatic and
featured many of the motifs so associated with the US automobile of the late
1950s including the now (mostly) lawful quad-headlights, the panoramic “Vista-Dome”
windshield, the lashings of chrome and, of course, those tailfins. The Hemi V8 was again enlarged, now in a
“tall deck” version out to 395 cubic inches (6.4 litres) rated at 375
horsepower (280 kW) and for the first time a convertible version of the 300 was available.
By now the power race was being run in
earnest with General Motors (GM) offering fuel-injected engines and Mercury
solving the problem in the tradition American (there’s no replacement for
displacement) way by making a 430 cubic inch V8 although it was so big and
heavy it made the bulky Hemi seem something of a lightweight; the 430 did however briefly
find a niche in in power-boat racing. For 300C owners who wanted more there was
also a high-compression version with more radical valve timing rated at 390
horse power (290 kW) and this was for the first time able to be ordered with a
three-speed manual transmission. Few
apparently felt the need for more and of the 2,402 300Cs sold (1,918 coupes &
484 convertibles), only 18 were ordered in high-compression form.
1958 Chrysler 300D.
Again using the Hemi 392, now tuned for a standard 380 horsepower
(280 kW), there was for the first time the novelty of the optional Bendix “Electrojector”
fuel injection, which raised output to a nominal 390 horsepower (290 kW) although
its real benefit was the consistency of fuel delivery, overcoming the starvation
encountered sometimes under extreme lateral load. Unfortunately, the analogue electronics of
the era proved unequal to the task and the unreliability was both chronic and insoluble, thus almost all the 21 fuel-injected cars were retro-fitted
with the stock dual-quad induction system and it’s believed only one 300D
retains its original Bendix plumbing.
Also rare was the take-up rate for the manual transmission option and
interestingly, both the two known 300Ds so equipped were ordered originally
with carburetors rather than fuel injection.
The engineers also secured one victory over the stylists. After testing on the proving grounds
determined the distinctive, forward jutting “eyebrow” header atop the windscreen
reduced top speed by 5 mph (8 km/h), they managed to convince management to
authorize an expensive change to the tooling, standardizing the convertible’s
compound-curved type “bubble windshield”, a then rare triumph of function over
fashion. Although the emphasis of the
letter series cars was shifting from the track to the roads, the things
genuinely still were fast and one (slightly modified) 300D was set a new class record
of 156.387 mph (251.681 km/h) on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Production declined to 810 units (619 coupes
& 191 convertibles).
1959 Chrysler 300E.
With the coming of the 1959 range, the Hemi was retired
and replaced by a new 413 cubic inch (6.8 litre) V8 with wedge-shaped
combustion chambers. Lighter by some 100
lb (45 kg) and cheaper to produce than the Hemi with its demanding machining
requirements and intricate valve train, the additional displacement allowed
power output to be maintained at 380 horsepower (280 kW) while torque
(something more significant for what most drivers on the street do most of the
time actually increased). The manual
transmission option was also deleted with no market resistance and despite the
lower production costs, the price tag rose, something probably more of a factor
in the declining sales than the loss of the much vaunted Hemi and, like the
300D (and most of the rest of the industry) the year before, the economy was
suffering in the relatively brief but sharp recession and Chrysler probably did
well to shift 390 units (550 coupes & 140 convertibles).
1960 Chrysler 300F (left) and 300F engine with Sonoramic intake in red (right).
Although the rococo styling cues remained, underneath now
lay radical modernity, the corporation’s entire range (except for exclusive
Imperial line) switching from ladder frame to unitary construction. The stylists however indulged themselves with
more external flourishes, allowing the tailfins an outward canter, culminating sharply in a point and housing boomerang-shaped taillights. Even the critics of such things found it a
pleasing look although they were less impressed by the faux spare tire cover (complete
with an emulated wheel cover!) on the trunk (boot), dubbing it the “toilet
seat”. The interior though was memorable
with four individual bucket in leather with a center console between extending
the cockpit’s entire length and there was also Chrysler’s intriguing
electroluminescent instrument display which, rather than being lit with bulbs,
exploited a phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to an
electric field; the ethereal glow was much admired.
Buyers in 1959 may have felt regret in not seeing a Hemi in the engine
bay, but after lifting the hood (bonnet) of a 300F they wouldn’t have been
disappointed because, in designer colors (gold, silver, blue & red) sat the
charismatic “Sonoramic” intake manifold, a “cross-ram” system which placed the
carburetors at the sides of engine, connected by long tubular runners. What the physics of this did was provide a
short duration “supercharging” effect, tuned for the mid-range torque most used
when overtaking at freeway speeds. Also
built were a handful of “short ram” Sonoramics which had the tubes (actually
with the same length) re-tuned to deliver top-end power rather than mid-range
torque. Rated at a nominal 400 (300 kW) horsepower,
these could be fitted also with the French-built Pont-a-Mousson 4-speed manual
transmission used in the Chrysler V8-powered Facel Vega and existed only for
the purpose of setting records, six 300Fs so equipped showing up at the 1960
Dayton Speed Week where they took the top six places in the event’s signature Flying
Mile, crossing the traps at between 141.5-144.9 mph (227.7-233.3 km/h). The market responded and sales rose to 1217 (969
& 248 convertibles) and the 300F (especially those with the “short ram”
Sonoramics) is the most collectable of the letter series.
1961 Chrysler 300G.
The 300G gained canted headlights, another of those
styling fads of the 1950s & 1960s which quickly became passé but now
seem a charming period piece. There
was the usual myriad of detail changes the industry in those days dreamed up
each season, usually for no better reason that to be “different” from last year’s
model and thus be able to offer something “new”. As well as the slanted headlights, the fins became sharper still and taillights were moved. Mechanically, the specification substantially
was unaltered, the Sonoramic plumbing carried over although the expensive,
imported Pont-a-Mousson transmission was removed from the option list, replaced
by Chrysler’s own heavy-duty 3-speed manual unit, the demand for which was
predictably low. The lack of a fourth
cog didn’t impede the 300G’s performance in that year’s Daytona Flying Mile
where one would again take the title with a mark of 143 mph (230.1 km/h) and to
prove the point a stock standard model won the one mile acceleration title. People must have liked the headlights because
production reached 1617 units (1,280 coupes & 337 convertibles).
1962 Chrysler 300H.
Perhaps a season or two too late, Chrysler “de-finned” its
whole range, prompting their designer (Virgil Exner (1909–1973)) to lament his creations
now resembled “plucked chickens”. For
1962 the 300 name also lost some of its exclusivity with the addition to the
range of the 300 Sport series (offered also with four-door bodywork) and to
muddy the waters further, much of what was fitted to the 300H could be ordered
as an option on the basic 300 so externally, but for the distinctive badge,
there was visually little to separate the two.
Mechanically, the “de-contenting” which the accountants had begun to
impose as the industry chase higher profits (short-term strategies to increase “shareholder
value” are nothing new) was felt as the Sonoramic induction system moved to the
300H’s option list with the inline dual 4-barrel carburetor setup last seen on
the 300E now standard. However, because
of weight savings gained by the adoption of a shorter wheelbase platform, the
specific performance numbers of 300H actually slightly shaded its predecessor but
the cannibalizing of the 300 name and the public perception the thing’s place
in the hierarchy was no longer so exalted saw sales decline 570 (435 coupes &
135 convertibles), the worst year to date.
The magic of the 300 name however seemed to work because Chrysler in the
four available body styles (2 door convertible, 2 & 4 door hardtop & 4
door sedan) sold 25,578 of the 300 Sport series, exceeding expectations. Since 1962, the verbal shorthand to distinguished between the ranges has been “letter series” and “non letter series” cars.
1963 Chrysler 300J.
Presumably in an attempt to atone for past sins, a spirit
of rectilinearism washed through Chrysler’s design office while the 1963 range
was being prepared and it would persist until the decade’s end when new sins
would be committed. Unrelated to that
was the decision to skip a 300I because of concerns it might be read as the
wholly numeric 3001. The decontenting
continued with the swivel feature for the front bucket seats deleted while full-length
centre console was truncated at the front compartment with the rear seat now a
less eye-catching bench. The 413 V8 was
offered in a single configuration but Sonoramics were again standard and the
manual transmission remained optional and seven buyers actually ticked the box. The
300J was still a fast car, capable of a verified 142 mph (229 km/h) although
the weight and gearing conspired against acceleration although a standing quarter mile (400
m) time of 15.8 was among the quickest of the cars in its class. Still, it did seem the end of the series might
be nigh with the convertible no longer offered and the sales performance
reflected the feeling, only 400 coupes leaving the showrooms.
1964 Chrysler 300K.
Selling in 1963 only 400 examples of what was intended as
one of the corporations “halo” cars triggered management to engage in what the
Americans had come to call an “agonizing reappraisal”. The conclusion drawn was the easiest way to stimulate demand was to
lower the basic entry price to ownership of the name and if buyers really
wanted the fancy stuff once fitted as standard, they could order it from an
option list; it was essentially the same approach as used for most of Chrysler’s
other ranges. Accordingly, the leather
trim and many of the power accessories joined air-conditioning on the option
list. The base engine was now running a
single four barrel carburetor although for and additional US$375, the Sonoramic
could be ordered and combined with Chrysler’s new, robust four-speed manual
transmission. Surprising some observers,
the convertible coachwork made a return to the catalogue. All that meant the 300K could be advertised
for US$1000 less than the 300J and the market responded in a text book example
of price elasticity of demand, production spiking to 3647 (3,022 coupes & 625
convertibles).
1965 Chrysler 300L (four speed manual).
Despite the stellar sales of the 300K, even before the
release of the 300L, the decision had been taken it would be the last of the
letter series. The tastes of those who
wanted high performance had shifted to the smaller, lighter pony cars and
intermediates which hadn’t even been envisaged when the C-300 had made its debut
a decade earlier. Additionally, the letter
series had outlived their usefulness as image-makers for the corporation now
they were no longer the fastest machines in the fleet and production-line rationalization
meant it was easier and more profitable to maintain a single 300 line and allow
buyers to choose their own combination of options; in other words, after 1965, it
would still be possible to create a letter series 300 in most aspects except
the badge and the now departed Sonoramics of fond memory. When the last 300L was produced it was
configured with a single four barrel carburetor and had it not been for the
badges, few would have noticed the difference between it and any other 300 with
the same body. The lower price though
continued to attract buyers and in its final year 2845 were sold (2,405 coupes
& 440 convertibles).
