Taking writing to exception : by way of introduction -- 1. The trauma of literature : a promenade through the archive on the avant-garde and politics -- 2. The party and the book : Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, futurism and amateur democracy -- 3. The paper state : Paul van Ostaijen, expressionism and constitutional heterotopia -- 4. The secret politician : Richard Huelsenbeck, Dadaism and the redemption of literature -- The law of literature : by way of conclusion.