Daniil Kharms and the russian Prose Poem

Abstract

In Russia there is a long tradition of short story writing as can be seen in the works of Pushkin, Chekhov, Babel, Bunin et al. However, very few Russian authors have chosen to write prose poems. The first Russian author to write prose poems is considered to be Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883). He is, however, primarily known as a novelist. Daniil Kharms (1905–1942), on the other hand, is best known as an avant-garde author of prose poems, although he also wrote other kinds of poetry and stories for children and he is now considered to be the foremost author of Russian prose poems. This article briefly traces Kharms’s life and then discusses his prose poems, their style and themes. His style is simple but deceptive. As to the themes in his prose poems, Kharms seeks to demonstrate the absurdity of existence and uses various methods to do so: exaggeration, abstraction, inconsistency, irrationality and irony. Logical progression, cause and effect, is usually not to be found. Some of his poems are philosophical, others are political, and yet others are openly absurd. A few translated examples are included. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the publication.