Zaum: The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism

by Gerald Janacek

If Dada and the European Avant-garde are your thing, then brace yourself for Gerald Janecek's ZAUM. According to Charlotte Douglas (Russian and Slavic Studies, NYU), Janecek’s Zaum "is an encyclopedic account of zaum or 'beyonsense,' the most distinctive feature of Russian avant-garde art and poetry early in the 20th century. Janecek has mined a myriad of arcane and inaccessible sources, gathered the entire historical record in one place, and made it readable and comprehensible. His account of zaum theory and practice will be indispensable for anyone interested in modern poetry and art. Certainly it will become a standard text for all students of Russian Futurism."

REVIEWS

" [Janecek's] book will be valuable for scholars studying the avant-garde throughout Europe... Janecek provide[s] a definitional vocabulary and meaningful framework upon which future researchers may build."



Walter Comins-Richmond, Occidental College

"Should such poetic brinkmanship be granted a place in poetry? Yes, argues Janecek, because it is a value working against the automatization of language and thus of life. More than eighty years after its inception, it is indeed remarkable that Zaum is still controversial, still avant-garde, still denigrated as having gone too far. In sum, Janecek's work is an extraordinarily comprehensive piece of scholarship, which succeeds in compressing several books' worth of research into one. He has raised the study of Zaum to a new level and in doing so has dampened none of its vitality."



Crispin Brooks, University of London

Gerald J. Janecek is Professor of Russian at the University of Kentucky.

The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism (1996) | Gerald Janecek | ISBN 1-879691-41-8 | paper, 428 pp. | illustrated | US $32.95, list price | NEW SECOND PRINTING 2015

Genres: Poetry

427 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was somewhat of a trudge at times and took way longer to finish than expected, not gonna lie. The work is highly exhaustive and academic/referential, not suggested therefore as a general introduction even though it remains to my knowledge one of the few books on the subject in English;
the close readings and attempted linguistic breakdounds of the primary poetic material at times appear strained and uncesessary;
the conclusion is especially strong and quite reflective/philosophical. worries over automation and machinization especially pertinent in the current state of affairs;
as is the introduction with its guide-through of various contemporary linguistic and philosophical conceptions relevant to zaum;
this may as well have been a discussion of Kruchenykh since he features dominantly;