Velimir Khlebnikov

Khlebnikov in 1916. [1]
Born	November 9, 1885(1885-11-09) Maloderbetovsky ulus, Astrakhan Governorate, Russian Empire (now Malye Derbety, Kalmykia
Died	June 28, 1922(1922-06-28) (aged 36) Santalovo, Kresttsy county, Novgorod Governorate, Soviet Union
Web	Ubuweb Sound, Ubuweb Sound, Wikipedia, Wikipedia-RU

Velimir Khlebnikov [Велимир Хлебников; born Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, Виктор Владимирович Хлебников; 1885-1922), was a writer, sketcher and poet, also interested in mathematics, history, and mythology.

Chronology

Based on chronology in Khlebnikov, The King of Time, ed. Charlotte Douglas, 1985, pp 239-247.

• 9 Nov 1885: K. born in village of Malye Derbety, ca. 80 km south of Volgograd.
• 1903: Graduates from Kazan gymnasium; enters university.
• 1908: Sends early poems to Ivanov. Moves to Petersburg; enters university.
• 1909: Meets Kamensky. Publishes first literary piece.
• 1910: Plans trip to Montenegro. Meets Burliuk and Matyushin. Breaks with Ivanov and Symbolists. "Incantation by Laughter" published in Kulbin's Impressionists' Studio [Студия импрессионистов]. The collection A Jam for Judges [Садок Судей] published; includes "O Garden of Animals!".
• 1911: Meets Mayakovsky. Working on theory of history.
• 1912: Visits Burliuk estate in southern Russia. A Game in Hell [Игра в аду] by K. and Kruchenykh. Contributes to A Slap in the Face of Public Taste [Пощёчина общественному вкусу]. The World in Reverse [Мирсконца] by K. and Kruchenykh.
• 1913: Contributes to A Jam for Judges II [Садок Судей II]. Mrs. Laneen. "Usa-Gali". "Nikolai". "The Word as Such". "The Letter as Such".
• 1914: Breaks with Burliuk over Marinetti. Selections of Poems [Изборник стихов]. Creations [Творения].
• 1915: Writes "K" (pub. 1916).
• 1916: Society of 317 (Presidents of Planet Earth) founded. Drafted into army. Stationed near Saratov.
• 1917: Receives military furlough. In Kharkiv, writes "An Appeal by the Presidents of Planet Earth". In Moscow and Petrograd; with Tatlin plans program of 3 plays.
• 1918: Works for newspapers in Nizhny Novgorod. Works for newspaper in Astrakhan; writes "October on the Neva".
• 1919: Spends early spring in Moscow; contributes "The Head of the Universe" and "To the Artists of the World" to proposed collection, International of the Arts. In military hospital with typhus.
• 1920: In Kharkiv, after release from hospital. Arrives in Baku; works for newspaper and cultural-educational section of Volga-Caspian fleet. In Baku invents Laws of Time.
• 1921: Sails from Baku to Enzeli, Persia. Returns to Russia; goes to Piatigorsk. Returns to Moscow.
• 1922: Finishes Zangezi. Excerpts from the Tables of Destiny [Отрывок из "Досок судьбы"] published. Zangezi [Зангези] printed. 28 June: K. dies in village of Santalovo.

Khlebnikov and the radio

This section is sourced from Miguel Molina Alarcón, Baku: Symphony of Sirens: Sound Experiments in The Russian Avant-Garde. Original Documents and Reconstructions of 72 Key Works of Music, Poetry and Agitprop from the Russian Avantgardes (1908-1942), London: ReR Megacorp, 2008, pp 21-22.

A key artist in Russian cubo-futurism, he was constantly searching by way of verbal experimentation, writing toward the utopia of a "stellar" universal language. "The Radio of the Future" is an essay written at the end of his life anticipating the possibilities of the new radiophonic medium (radio first started broadcasting in Russia in 1922). He conceives radio as a "central tree consciousness" or "a great wizard and sorcerer" which, with its waves, would "unite all mankind". He saw the radio station as "a spider's web of lines" or "the flight of birds in springtime" which reveal the "news from the life of the spirit". In the hands of artists, this new medium would transport and project ideas instantly to the "unknown shores" of all humanity. Khlebnikov imagined that they could make "Radio-Books", "Radio Reading-Walls", "Radio-auditoriums" ("a concert stretching from Vladivostok to the Baltic"), "Radio and Art Exhibits", "Radio Screens" and "Radio Clubs"... where you could see and hear everything from the tiniest sound of nature to major events in the "exciting life" of cities. He understood that with this there would be a communication between the artist's "soul" and the people: "the artist has cast a spell over his land; he has given his country the singing of the sea and the whistling of the wind. The poorest house in the smallest town is filled with divine whistlings and all the sweet delights of sound." This capacity of Radio led him to see it as "The Great Sorcerer", capable of transmitting even "the sense of taste"; people would drink water feeling that they were drinking wine; or smell: a Radio station "would give" the nation, for example, "the odour of snow" in the middle of spring. It would also be a "Doctor without medicine" curing from a distance by means of "hypnotic suggestion". And Radio could also transmit sounds to facilitate the work of the harvest and construction by emitting certain musical notes, "la" and "ti", which would help "increase muscular capacity" in the workers. Another of the Radio's great qualities would be the organization of popular education through radiophonic classes and lectures. But Khlebnikov also warned that all this potential could be interrupted if a Radio station were damaged. That would generate "a mental blackout over the entire country". Thus it was necessary to protect the Radio Station with the word "Danger". In this text, Khlebnikov anticipates the potential of Mass Media and its capacity for the globalization of ideas and opinion - although this "universal soul" was seen by him as positive, he already suspected some of its dangers. This text was possibly written in around 1921 in Pitigorsk, when Khlebnikov was working temporarily as a watchman in a telegraph agency, spending the long nights writing.

Works

• Khlebnikov, et al., Sadok sudey [Садок Судей], St Petersburg: Zhuravl', Apr 1910, 131 pp, IA. (Russian)
• with Aleksei Kruchenykh, Igra v adu [Игра в аду], Moscow, 1912.
• Khlebnikov, et al., Poshechina obshestvennomu vkusu. V zashchitu svobodnogo iskusstva. Stikhi, proza, stat'i [Пощёчина общественному вкусу. В защиту свободного искусства: Стихи, проза, статьи], Moscow: Georgy L. Kuzmin, Moscow, Dec 1912, 114 pp. (Russian)
• with Aleksei Kruchenykh, Mirskontsa [Мирсконца], [Moscow]: [Kuzmin & Dolinsky], 1912, 43 pp. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Sadok sudey II [Садок Судей II], 1913, WS-RU. (Russian)
• with Aleksei Kruchenykh, Bukh liesinnyi [Бух лесинный], St Petersburg: EUY, [1913], [23] pp. [2]
• Khlebnikov, et al., Troe, St Petersburg: Zhuravl', 1913, 52 pp. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Slovo kak takovoe, [Moscow]: [EUY], 1913. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Zatychka, sbornik: risunki, stikhi, Moscow: Gileya, 1913, 21 pp. (Russian)

• Izbornik stikhov s poslesloviyem Rechyarya [Изборник стихов с послесловием Речяря], St Petersburg: EUY [ЕУЫ], 1914, IA. (Russian)
• Ryav! Perchatki (1908-1914 gg.) [Ряв! Перчатки (1908-1914 гг.)], Petrograd: EUY [ЕУЫ], 1914. (Russian)
• Tvoreniya: T. 1: 1906-1908 [Творения: Т. 1: 1906-1908], Moscow: Izd. "Pervogo zhurnala russkikh futuristov", 1914, IA. (Russian)
• with A.E. Kruchenykh, Sarinnaya lyubov. Bukh lesinyy [Старинная любовь. Бух лесиный], [Petrograd]: EUY [ЕУЫ], 1914, IA, IA. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Te li le, [St Petersburg]: [EUY], 1914, 18 pp. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Igra v adu, [Moscow]: [Kuzmin & Dolinsky], 1914, 27 pp, IA. (Russian)

• Vremya mera ira [Время мера мира], Petrograd, 1916. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Chetyre stitsy. Sbornik stikhov [Четыре птицы. Сборник стихов], Moscow: К., 1916. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Vremennik [Временник], Moscow: B. i., 1917. (Russian)

• Khlebnikov, et al., Rzhanoe slovo. Revolyutsionnaya khrestomatiya futuristov [Ржаное слово. Революционная хрестоматия футуристов], Petrograd: IMO, 1918. (Russian)

• Khlebnikov, et al., Mir i ostalnoe, Baku, 1920, 93 pp. (Russian)
• Khlebnikov, et al., Liren [Лирень], V.m., 1920, 40 pp. (Russian)
• Noch' v okope [Ночь в окопе], Moscow: Imazhinisty, 1921. (Russian)
• Otryvok iz "Dosok sud'by" [Отрывок из "Досок судьбы"], [Мoscow], [1922]. (Russian)
• Zangezi [Зангези], Moscow, 1922. (Russian)

• Zapisnaya knizhka [Записная книжка], ed. A. Kruchenykh, Moscow: Vserossiyskiy soyuz poetov, 1925, 30 pp. (Russian)

• Zverinets (K dvadtsatiletiyu so dnya napechataniya). 2. Pis'mo Khlebnikova. 3. Vospominaniya o Khlebnikove [Зверинец (К двадцатилетию со дня напечатания). 2. Письмо Хлебникова. 3. Воспоминания о Хлебникове], Moscow: Gruppa druzey Khlebnikova, 1930. (Russian)

More

• More works, in HTML

Collected writings

in Russian

• Izbrannye stikhotvoreniya [Избранные стихотворения], ed. N. Stepanov, Moscow: Sov. pisatel, 1936, 507 pp. (Russian)

• Sobranie proizvedeniy [Собрание произведений], 5 vols., ed. N.L. Stepanov, Leningrad: Izd-vo pisateley v Leningrade, 1928-33, RSL/1, RSL/2, PDF/3, RSL/3, PDF/4, RSL/4, RSL/5. (Russian)

• Sobranie sochineiy [Собрание сочинений], 6 vols., 2000-06, PDF/1, PDF/2, PDF/3, PDF/4, PDF/5, PDF/6-1, PDF/6-2. (Russian)

in English

• The King of Time. Selected Writings of the Russian Futurian, ed. Charlotte Douglas, trans. Paul Schmidt, Harvard University Press, 1985, 255 pp. (English)
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, 1: Letters and Theoretical Writings, ed. Charlotte Douglas, trans. Paul Schmidt, Harvard University Press, 1987, 452 pp. (English)
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, 2: Prose, Plays, and Supersagas, ed. Ronald Vroon, trans. Paul Schmidt, Harvard University Press, 1989. [3] (English)
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, 3: Selected Poems, ed. Ronald Vroon, trans. Paul Schmidt, Harvard University Press, 1998, 290 pp. (English)

Literature

• Nikolay Stepanov, Velimir Khlebnikov: zhizn i tvorchestvo [Велимир Хлебников: жизнь и творчество], 1975. (Russian)
• Salomon Mirsky, Der Orient im Werk Velimir Chlebnikovs, Munich: Sagner, 1975, 121 pp. (German)
• Barbara Lönnqvist, Xlebnikov and Carnival: An Analysis of the Poem Poet, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1979, 166 pp. (English)
• Russian Literature 9(1): "The Russian Avant-Garde III" (Jan 1981). [4] (English)
• Peter Stobbe, Utopisches Denken bei V. Chlebnikov, Munich: Sagner, 1982, 164 pp. (German)
• Nils Åke Nilsson (ed.), Velimir Chlebnikov: A Stockholm Symposium, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1985, 150 pp. (English)
• Johannes Holthusen (ed.), Velimir Chlebnikov, Munich: Sagner, 1986. (German),(Russian),(English)
• Raymond Cooke, Velimir Khlebnikov: A Critical Study, Cambridge University Press, 1987. (English)
• Ronald Vroon (Роналд Вроон), "Khlebnikov i Platonov: predvaritelnye zametki" [Хлебников и Платонов: предварительные заметки], in Yazyk kak tvorchestvo, Moscow, 1996, pp 55-65. (Russian)
• Andrey Shishkin (Андрей Борисович Шишкин), "Velimir Khlebnikov na 'Bashne' Vyacheslava Ivanova" [Велимир Хлебников на "Башне" Вячеслава Иванова], NLO 17 (1996), pp 141-167. (Russian)
• Marjorie Perloff, "The Pursuit of Number: Yeats, Khlebnikov, and the Mathematics of Modernism", ch. 4 in Perloff, Poetic License: Essays on Modernist and Postmodernist Lyric, Northwestern University Press, 1990, pp 71-98, n316-319. (English)
• http://www.ka2.ru/nauka/

See also

• Symphony of Sirens
• Aleksei Kruchenykh
• Russia#Avant-garde

Links

• The World of Velimir Khlebnikov
• Мир Велимира Хлебникова