SOURCE: “Hugo Ball: A Man in Flight from His Age,” in German Dadaist Literature: Kurt Schwitters, Hugo Ball, Hans Arp, Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1973, pp. 62-115.

In the following essay, Last surveys Ball's life and career, emphasizing “the variety of styles and forms which he adopted.”

Of all the Dadaists, Hugo Ball was the one whose life was the most fraught with physical deprivation and inner tension, and torn between the most violent extremes. And yet, at first sight, it appears somewhat surprising that this should be so, for the usual image of Ball is that of a man reveling in the artistic revolution, rather than of an individual borne along upon a tide of conflict and emotion which he was powerless to control.

To look at most studies of Dada and the avant-garde to date, it would seem almost compulsory to introduce the Zurich movement through Ball's recitation...