Article

Name: The Void in Russian Avant-Garde Poetry: From Transcendental Buffoonery to “Vacuum Poetry”

Authors: Vladimir G. Bogomiakov, Marina G. Chistiakova

Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russian Federation

Abstract:

This article explores the phenomenon of “text absence,” or the practice of the “blank page,” in 20th century poetry. The void works of the Ego-Futurist Vasilisk Gnedov and Transpoet Rya Nikonova are analyzed in the context of supplementary and commentative theoretical texts by I. Ignatiev and Rya Nikonova herself. The article argues that the interpretations of the void by poets representing historical avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements conceptually diverge. They have fundamentally different foundations and characteristics, producing varied meanings. To clarify these interpretations, the authors refer to F. Schlegel’s concept of “transcendental buffoonery” and Rya Nikonova’s epistemological project “System.” In both cases, the poets’ engagement with the concept of the void leads to the transgressive development of art, resulting in the emergence of new art practices.

Keywords: vacuum poetry, empty text, transfurism, transcendental buffoonery, ego-futurism

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