Daniil Kharms

In one of my classes I’m taking this semester, I’ve been learning about soviet Russia’s means of war and daily life propaganda from a wide specter of the Russian society. An author I’ve found incredibly fascinating is Danil Kharms. His style of writing is absurdist theatre, something I had absolutely no idea existed. It is based on the idea that it’s really not supposed to serve any particular purpose. In fact, there really isn’t that much substance to an absurdist text in general. People have been racking their brains for years trying to figure out what the hell Kharms was talking about, but to no avail. I love this style of writing because of its very nature: go crazy, be creative. Given, Kharms’ short stories are pretty disturbing and horrifying, but I think I’ve actually been able to give a few some meaning. I mean, they had to serve some significance to my class, right? Here’s a link to a cite encompassing the gist of his works, but I’ll also post a really short story of his that really sums up what he’s all about. As it turns out, the Soviets HATED Kharms. Their whole thing was to have a solid, conservative, factual consensus of every aspect of their lives. The fact that they couldn’t hold writers like Kharms down is fascinating to me.

            There’s not much that can be said about Kharms’ rhetoric or personal style of his writing since it’s literally brain diarrhea. But I think the kairos of this absurdist literature and theatre is so cool. It’s as if Kharms wanted to mess with the Soviets on purpose. It’s hard to say if his writings or plays were effective, but his target audience was children interestingly enough. How could a child possibly endure this type of writing?  I’d get so many nightmares. Was he trying to brainwash kids? I have no idea and I kind of don’t want to know; he creeps me out a little bit.

http://www.sevaj.dk/kharms/kharmseng.htm