Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name Velimir Khlebnikov ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922) was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of the Russian Futurist movement, but his work and influence stretch far beyond it. Influential linguist

Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (russian: Рома́н О́сипович Якобсо́н; October 11, 1896Kucera, Henry. 1983. "Roman Jakobson." ''Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America'' 59(4): 871–883. – July 18,

Biography

Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov was born in 1885 in Malye Derbety, Astrakhan Governorate,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(in present-day Kalmykia). He was of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and

Zaporozhian Cossack The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack Army, Zaporozhian Host, (, or uk, Військо Запорізьке, translit=Viisko Zaporizke, translit-std=ungegn, label=none) or simply Zaporozhians ( uk, Запорожці, translit=Zaporoz ...

descent.James R. Russell, "The Black Dervish of Armenian Futurism," ''Journal of Armenian Studies'', 10 His younger sister, Vera Khlebnikova, was an artist. He moved to

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

, where he attended school. He then attended school in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He eventually quit school to become a full-time writer. His earliest works are from 1908. In 1909-10, he met the to-be Russian Futurists

Vasily Kamensky Vasily Vasilyevich Kamensky (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Каме́нский; – November 11, 1961) was a Russian Futurist poet, playwright, and artist as well as one of the first Russian aviators. Biography Kamensky w ...

, David Burliuk, and

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

. Soon Khlebnikov would belong to Hylaea, the most significant Russian Futurist group (along with Mayakovsky,

Aleksei Kruchenykh Aleksei Yeliseyevich Kruchyonykh (russian: Алексе́й Елисе́евич Кручёных; 9 February 1886 – 17 June 1968) was a Russian poet, artist, and theorist, perhaps one of the most radical poets of Russian Futurism, a mo ...

, David Burliuk and Benedikt Livshits). However, he had already written many significant poems before the Futurist movement in Russia had taken shape. Among his contemporaries, he was regarded as "a poet's poet" (Mayakovsky referred to him as a "poet for producers") and a maverick genius. Khlebnikov was involved in the publication of ''A Slap in the Face of Public Taste'' in 1912, which was a critical component of the Russian futurist poetry. Khlebnikov is known for poems such as "Incantation by Laughter", "Bobeobi Sang The Lips", "The Grasshopper" (all 1908-1909), "Snake Train" (1910), the prologue to the Futurist opera '' Victory over the Sun'' (1913), dramatic works such as "Death's Mistake" (1915), prose works such as "Ka" (1915), and the so-called 'super-tale' (сверхповесть) " Zangezi", a drama written partly in zaum. He published ''Selected Poems with Postscript, 1907–1914'' circa 1914. Kazimir Malevich and Pavel Filonov co-illustrated it. Velimir Khlebnikov by M

In his work, Khlebnikov experimented with the Russian language, drawing upon its roots to invent huge numbers of

neologisms A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

, and finding significance in the shapes and sounds of individual letters of Cyrillic script, Cyrillic. Along with Kruchenykh, he originated zaum, a language defying translation. He wrote futurological essays about such things as the possible evolution of mass communication ("The Radio of the Future") and transportation and housing ("Ourselves and Our Buildings"). He described a world in which people live and travel about in mobile glass cubicles that can attach themselves to skyscraper-like frameworks, and in which all human knowledge can be disseminated to the world by

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

and displayed automatically on giant book-like displays at streetcorners. In 1912, he also published a method to predict historical events; one of the examples given was a "collapse of an empire in 1917". Although Khlebnikov had supported the 1917 Russian Revolution and shared many of its utopian visions, his works were criticized by the Soviets for not conforming to the strictures of

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...

. In 1921, he was able to travel to Persia; excited at his arrival, he wrote poems chronicling exciting events and the sights around him. He also made friends with several

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...

es. He was forced to go back to Russia in August that year. In his final years, Khlebnikov became fascinated with

Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balk ...

and Pythagorean numerology, drawing up long "Tables of Destiny" decomposing historical intervals and dates into functions of the numbers 2 and 3. Khlebnikov died while a guest in the house of his friend Pyotr Miturich near Kresttsy, in June 1922. There has been no medical diagnosis of his last illness; he suffered from gangrene and paralysis (he seems not to have recovered the use of his legs after his 1920 hospitalization in Kharkov), and it has been suggested that he died of blood poisoning or toxemia. A

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

3112 Velimir 311 may refer to: * 311 (number), a natural number * AD 311, a year of the Julian calendar, in the fourth century AD * 311 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 311 (band), an American band ** ''311'' (album), band 311's self-titled album ...

discovered by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1977 is named after him.

Publishing history

;Long poems *1910: “Snake Train” *1913: Prologue to the Futurist opera '' Victory over the Sun'' ;Plays *1912: ''The Little Devil'' ;Books *1912: ''Teacher and Student. Conversation'' *1914: ''Roar! Gauntlets, 1908–1914'' *1915: ''Death’s Mistake'' *1921: "Washerwoman & other poems *1922: '' Zangezi (сверхповесть)'' ;Radio Project *1921: ''The Radio of the Future'' ;Short Stories *1913: “Nikolai”

References

* Khlebnikov, Velimir, ''Snake Train: Poetry & Prose'', translated by Gary Kern, Richard Sheldon, Edward J. Brown, Neil Cornwell & Lily Feiler. Edited by Gary Kern, with an introduction by Edward J. Brown. (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1976), 338 pages (cloth), (paperback). * Khlebnikov, Velimir, ''The King of Time'' (Schmidt, Paul, trans.; Douglas, Charlotte, ed.) Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1990. * MacKay, John. ''Inscription and Modernity: From Wordsworth to Mandelstam.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.

External links

'Velimir Khlebnikov and ‘Displacement’ as Poetics'
in ''Cordite Poetry Review'' (English)

(Bilingual)
Listen to an interpretation of Khlebnikov's "Radio of the Future" at Acousmata music blogIncludes English translations of five poems, 113–117English translations of five poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khlebnikov, Velimir 1885 births 1922 deaths People from Kalmykia People from Astrakhan Governorate Russian male poets Russian avant-garde Russian people of Armenian descent Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 20th-century Russian poets 20th-century Russian male writers