BLOG

11/2002 | 09/2003 | 11/2003 | 01/2004 | 02/2004 | 03/2004 | 04/2004 | 05/2004 | 06/2004 | 07/2004 | 08/2004 | 09/2004 | 11/2004 | 12/2004 | 03/2005 | 04/2005 | 05/2005 | 06/2005 | 07/2005 | 08/2005 | 09/2005 | 10/2005 | 11/2005 | 12/2005 | 01/2006 | 02/2006 | 03/2006 | 04/2006 | 05/2006 | 06/2006 | 07/2006 | 08/2006 | 09/2006 | 10/2006 | 11/2006 | 12/2006 | 01/2007 | 02/2007 | 03/2007 | 04/2007 | 05/2007 | 06/2007 | 07/2007 | 09/2007 | 10/2007 | 11/2007 | 12/2007 | 01/2008 | 02/2008 | 04/2008 | 05/2008 | 06/2008 | 07/2008 | 08/2008 |

Daniil Kharms 6/07/2005

I was pleased to see that the Octopus Magazine #5 features, among other fine offerings, a selection by the Russian absurdist Daniil Kharms titled from THE BLUE NOTEBOOK.

The suggestion to investigate Kharms' work came some years ago from marks s kuhar (PFAs #276-281), publisher of the deep cleveland oracle (d.a. levy lives!) . When Kimberly White (PFAs #244-45, 433, 478)invited me to participate last December (2004) at a reading where we each selected a favorite dead poet, Kharms seemed a perfect choice.

I was drawn to Kharms for two reasons: His sense of absurdity (which inspired me to shoot rubber bands at the audience as I read his work); and, the thick overcoat of tragedy that he wore through his life and work as a writer and poet. To say that he couldn't catch a break in 1930s Russia would be an understatement. His worked banned, he was eventually "committed" to a mental hospital. One story of his death suggests that he died in such a hospital of starvation during the German seige of Leningrad during World War II.

Posted by: Richard Hansen / 12:28 PM