5 ms·

My favorite poet of the Zaum is Daniïl Kharms... But not sure how much of his works were (or even can be meaningully) translated into English... I guess he was

My favorite poet of the Zaum is Daniïl Kharms... But not sure how much of his works were (or even can be meaningully) translated into English... I guess he was technically founder of OBERUI (collaboration of real art) which was an off-shoot of Zaum. He was making a living publishing children's literature, which is ironic, because he hated children. But he couldn't publish his Futurist works, because they were deemed to be anti-soviet.

varjag 3y ago
In a special twist he was arrested for his children's works and not for his avant-garde writings.
- contingencies 3y ago
  He probably hated children even more after that.
  - vsviridov 3y ago
    His life story is very tragic, as it was for most people in the post-revolutionary times. His diaries were published and they are quite a harrowing read at times.
    - avodonosov 3y ago
      Of Kharms' works, I can not stop thinking for the last 10 years of the Knight (Рыцарь) story. Written in soviet 1930-ies, reads horrifyingly similar to the todays reality.
dhosek 3y ago
Karms is definitely available in English. One of my MFA classmates did his graduation seminar on Karms.
- vsviridov 3y ago
  Would be interesting to read and see how well it stacks up to the original. I remember being quite surprised and somewhat disappointed after reading some of my favorite sci-fi in english, after many years. Translators to Russian did a great job at adapting it and in some cases the translation was better than the original... Less dry..
gregsadetsky 3y ago
The most famous translation into English is probably "Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms" by Matvei Yankelevich. You can find it on Amazon and elsewhere. Ian Frazier, a well known author and contributor to the New Yorker, also published "It Happened Like This" which has great original translations of stories and poems. Finally, last year, my partner and I translated 8 of Kharms' short pieces and recorded them as a spoken jazz album. If you're into Kharms and/or Ken Nordine-like absurd vocal jazz, you might like it -> https://thedaniilkharms.bandcamp.com https://thedaniilkharms.bandcamp.com (and on Spotify, etc.) You can also read the album's translations by hovering over the song titles and clicking "Lyrics" I assume you speak Russian -- you might be interested in this article about the album/translation process: https://www22.zvuki.ru/R/P/82795/ https://www22.zvuki.ru/R/P/82795/
- aeontech 3y ago
  Thanks, great interview! Loved Kharms forever, will definitely check out your album (and all the other excellent references linked from the interview) For anyone else interested, though Gregory streaming links for the album here: https://songwhip.com/thedaniilkharms/postgogol-world https://songwhip.com/thedaniilkharms/postgogol-world
  - gregsadetsky 3y ago
    Thank you! I also forgot to link to a music video that a close friend made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aoc2lAXP9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aoc2lAXP9s It's a stop motion linocut... Each animated frame took him hours to make. A gem!
    - aeontech 3y ago
      After listening to the first couple of tracks, I can't help but be reminded of Ежи и Петруччо, if you haven't run across them, you might enjoy this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF168042ZEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF168042ZEs
- vsviridov 3y ago

varjag 3y ago

In a special twist he was arrested for his children's works and not for his avant-garde writings.

contingencies 3y ago
He probably hated children even more after that.
- vsviridov 3y ago
  His life story is very tragic, as it was for most people in the post-revolutionary times. His diaries were published and they are quite a harrowing read at times.
  - avodonosov 3y ago
    Of Kharms' works, I can not stop thinking for the last 10 years of the Knight (Рыцарь) story. Written in soviet 1930-ies, reads horrifyingly similar to the todays reality.

dhosek 3y ago

Karms is definitely available in English. One of my MFA classmates did his graduation seminar on Karms.

vsviridov 3y ago
Would be interesting to read and see how well it stacks up to the original. I remember being quite surprised and somewhat disappointed after reading some of my favorite sci-fi in english, after many years. Translators to Russian did a great job at adapting it and in some cases the translation was better than the original... Less dry..

gregsadetsky 3y ago

The most famous translation into English is probably "Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms" by Matvei Yankelevich. You can find it on Amazon and elsewhere. Ian Frazier, a well known author and contributor to the New Yorker, also published "It Happened Like This" which has great original translations of stories and poems. Finally, last year, my partner and I translated 8 of Kharms' short pieces and recorded them as a spoken jazz album. If you're into Kharms and/or Ken Nordine-like absurd vocal jazz, you might like it -> https://thedaniilkharms.bandcamp.com https://thedaniilkharms.bandcamp.com (and on Spotify, etc.) You can also read the album's translations by hovering over the song titles and clicking "Lyrics" I assume you speak Russian -- you might be interested in this article about the album/translation process: https://www22.zvuki.ru/R/P/82795/ https://www22.zvuki.ru/R/P/82795/

aeontech 3y ago
Thanks, great interview! Loved Kharms forever, will definitely check out your album (and all the other excellent references linked from the interview) For anyone else interested, though Gregory streaming links for the album here: https://songwhip.com/thedaniilkharms/postgogol-world https://songwhip.com/thedaniilkharms/postgogol-world
- gregsadetsky 3y ago
  Thank you! I also forgot to link to a music video that a close friend made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aoc2lAXP9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aoc2lAXP9s It's a stop motion linocut... Each animated frame took him hours to make. A gem!
  - aeontech 3y ago
    After listening to the first couple of tracks, I can't help but be reminded of Ежи и Петруччо, if you haven't run across them, you might enjoy this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF168042ZEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF168042ZEs
vsviridov 3y ago