"I'm only interested in nonsense ": Daniil Kharms is a genius of "black humor" and "literature of the absurd"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

An insanely strange man named Harms, a rebel who does not recognize any framework and patterns. One of the most controversial figures in Russian literature. Controversies still arise around his person, some consider him insane, writing frank nonsense, others - a genius. He did everything awry, and lived and wrote - with quirks and not according to the rules. Absurdity, black humor, nonsense and shocking - this is his element.

"". October 31, 1937

Daniil Yuvachev (Kharms) was born in St. Petersburg in 1905. His father, a former Narodnik who spent many years in exile, at the end of his life completely immersed himself in religion, and his son, named after one of the prophets, Daniel, raised deeply believers. The boy grew up very capable, at the age of five he was already reading with might and main, and he could not be torn from his books. He received a good education at home, graduated from the prestigious Peterschule school, was fluent in German and English. Despite the fact that he was very modest and shy, Danya from childhood was distinguished by a violent imagination and love of practical jokes, and with age, this, fortunately, did not go away with him, as happens with many.

Kharms is a pseudonym that Daniil Yuvachev invented for himself at school. In fact, he had many pseudonyms, more than forty, but this one is the most famous.

However, he had to live in a harsh time, when war, revolution, famine, repression fell upon the country, his family and himself.

After school he entered the electrical engineering school, from which he was expelled a year later."

Socialist Leningrad at that time was a kind of factory for the production of new people living in barracks under the slogan "Time, forward!" and willingly accepting this slogan.

Kharms, even living in a communal apartment, managed to live his own special, independent life. Against the general background, he looked rather strange - lanky, similar to Sherlock Holmes, in a cap, in golf pants, with a cane and an invariable pipe.

A completely unacceptable physical labor for himself, dressing like an aristocrat, a pacifist, believing in God - Kharms turned out to be completely incompatible with the Soviet regime, she did not give him anything good, and he, to put it mildly, did not favor her.

Kharms had an outstanding appearance and attracted women of the opposite sex, to whom he himself was not indifferent.

January 7, 1933

His first wife was Esther Rusakova, who was not particularly interested in his work. Together they lived for seven years, from 1925 to 1932, while constantly quarreling, diverging and returning again. For Kharms, it was painful love.

In the late 1920s, Kharms met a group of writers-peers who were close to him in spirit, lovers of the grotesque and the absurd. In 1927, they created the OBERIU group (a union of real art), focusing not on classical Russian poetry of the 19th century, but on the avant-garde. In addition to Kharms, they included Zabolotsky, Vvedensky, Vaginov, and Bakhterev, Oleinikov, Schwartz and others also collaborated with them. One of the founders of futurism Velemir Khlebnikov, from whom they borrowed an unusual approach to the word, undoubtedly influenced the work of the Oberiuts.

Only they themselves could fully appreciate the incomprehensible absurdist works of the Oberiuts, their public speeches were sharply criticized as anti-Soviet. Carnival clownish behavior was categorically discouraged. It was not recommended to joke with the Soviet authorities. Naturally, they were not published anywhere.

Kharms's father also did not understand the eccentricities of his son. Once having presented him with a volume of Khlebnikov's poems, he signed it like this: "".

In 1928, Kharms noticed and invited S. Ya. Marshak, in those years the head of the editorial board of children's literature. And Kharms agreed to have at least some means of subsistence. The children's department, located on the 5th floor of the House of Books, was probably the most fun place in Leningrad in those years. Two funny children's magazines "Ezh" (Monthly magazine) and "Chizh" (Extremely interesting magazine) were published here.

The writers gathered here were very fond of fooling around, and madness was not condemned here, but, on the contrary, was welcomed. Kharms fell into his element …

On the door of the editor's office there was a poster: "The schedule - in fig!".

«».

There has never been such a bunch of talents in Leningrad again - Marshak, Chukovsky, Zoshchenko, Kharms, Vvedensky, Oleinikov, Schwartz, Zhitkov, Panteleev … And amazing illustrators - V. Lebedev, N. Tyrtsa, N. Radlov and others. Children's book of that time was the best in the world.

And although Kharms, as he himself admitted, could not stand children, his children's poems came out very kind, and the children liked them. And his enchanting performances, when he, while reading poetry, simultaneously showed various tricks, delighted the children.

“”.

After that, the children followed Kharms for a long time with their mouths open in surprise, looking at him like a magician.

In 1931, a decree was issued, in which Chukovsky, Marshak and other children's writers were subjected to harsh criticism, but Kharms, Vvedensky and Bakhterev were appointed the main enemies, who, after being held for six months in prison and accused of anti-Soviet activities, were sent into exile in Kursk for several months. …, - he wrote about Kursk, -.

Returning from exile, Kharms publishes several more children's collections, and for himself and his friends begins to write prose, which will bring him fame only after his death.

In 1933, Kharms meets Marina Malich, whom he marries a year later. And although Kharms often cheated on her, they loved each other very much and went through the hardest times together.

Thanks to her memories, a lot of information about Kharms has been preserved.

In 1937, the children's editorial office was closed, many employees were repressed. The financial situation of Kharms is becoming very difficult.

Kharms has such a children's song, which turned out to be prophetic for him:

1937 year

Just like the hero of his children's song, Kharms once disappeared, and no one else saw him. In August 1941, when Leningrad was under the threat of capture by the Germans, Kharms was arrested, he received a denunciation from Antonina Oranzhireeva, a vigilant intelligent Soviet citizen on the spread of "slanderous and defeatist sentiments."

"" 1969, "The Legend of Tobacco. In Memory of Daniil Kharms", Alexander Galich.

A certain execution awaited him. But his personal file already contained a mental illness, which he was diagnosed with during the call, before the start of the Soviet-Finnish war. Then Kharms, whose character and beliefs were completely incompatible with military service, having studied a bunch of works on psychiatry, convincingly feigned insanity.

As a result, instead of being shot, he ended up in a psychiatric prison hospital, where he died of starvation on February 2, 1942.

"". January 8, 1937