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OBERIU / RI-OBERIU (edited by Simone Guagnelli and Laura Piccolo)

Том 15 (2022): OBERIU / RI-OBERIU

On Avant-garde’s Power Games: Velimir Khlebnikov, Daniil Kharms and Others

Опубликован
2023-01-26

Аннотация

The article attempts to determine what makes the literary legacy of the first Russian avant-garde so special. Did Velimir Khlebnikov, Vladimir Maiakovskii, Daniil Kharms indeed pronounced a “New First Unexpected” word, as they claimed in their manifestos? On a closer look it turns out that their truly innovative feature consists not in their artistic output but rather in their self-promotion strategies resulting in power games in the field of Russian literature, in a sado-masochistic contract with the reader, and, last but not least, in the “How-to-kill-a-great predecessor” topos. Among other things, the article suggests a fresh approach to the avant-garde, which refuses to play its power games, does not accept its contract and concentrates instead on analyzing those.