Similarities Between Mina Loy And F. T. Marinetti

As Futurist writers, both Mina Loy and F.T. Marinetti valorize machinery as a crucial element of their writing, as well as the world at large. Both agree that process of actualizing oneself requires the intervention of technology. Although undoubtedly different from one another, both writers seem to suggest that machinery will lead to a type of immortality, whether literally or theoretically. In their writing, technology acts as an active facilitator in the process of achieving eternal life. In the opening of his Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature, Marinetti is “Sitting astride the fuel tank of an airplane...” and the “swirling propeller” speaks to him as he flies “two hundred meters above the powerful smokestacks of Milan” (15). For Marinetti, technological advancements allow humans to perceive the world as no one has ever seen it before, as is the case
In her poem “Parturition,” motherhood becomes a means to obtain everlasting life. The persona reflects, “I should have been emptied of life/ Giving life...” (Loy, “Parturition,” lines). In this instance, the act of childbirth seems to defy logic: one life can become two. She continues, “Stir of incipient life/ Precipitating into me/ The contents of the universe/ Mother I am/ Identical/ With infinite Maternity/ Indivisible/ Acutely/ I am absorbed/ Into/ The was-is-ever-shall-be/ Of cosmic reproductivity” (Loy, “Parturition,” lines). The mother becomes God-like through her power of boundless creation –maternity allowing her to expand into the timeless cosmos. This idea that childbearing provides immortality is reminiscent Shakespeare’s early sonnets. For him, rearing a child was not only a responsibility (for a man), but also the key to unlocking eternal life. Loy takes this concept one step further. The mother becomes undying not simply through her child, but in and of