“Raun,” one of the great works of Futurist drama, was written by Ruggero Vasari between 1926 and 1927 before being published in 1932. The book, presented in English for the first time in a translation by Brendan and Anna Connell, and with an introduction by Professor Maria Elena Versari, is a dystopian masterpiece that is as relevant today as it was when it was originally composed.
Rivaling, in its own way, the plays of Aeschylus and Euripides, “Raun” is a fully-equipped tragedy in which, in the Era of Machines, eugenics are used to dehumanize a society obsessed with technical achievement and which is willing to sacrifice all in order to reach ever more exalted heights.