Voiceless Vanguard: The Infantilist Aesthetic of the Russian Avant-Garde (Studies in Russian Literature and Theory)

Winner, 2015 International Research Society in Children's Literature (IRSCL) Book Award __Voiceless Vanguard: The Infantilist Aesthetic of the Russian Avant-Garde__ offers a new approach to the Russian avant-garde. It argues that central writers, artists, and theorists of the avant-garde self-consciously used an infantile aesthetic, as inspired by children’s art, language, perspective, and logic, to accomplish the artistic renewal they were seeking in literature, theory, and art. It treats the influence of children’s drawings on the Neo-Primitivist art of Mikhail Larionov, the role of children’s language in the Cubo-Futurist poetics of Aleksei Kruchenykh, the role of the naive perspective in the Formalist theory of Viktor Shklovsky, and the place of children’s logic and lore in Daniil Kharms’s absurdist writings for children and adults. This interdisciplinary and cultural study not only illuminates a rich period in Russian culture but also offers implications for modernism in a wider Western context, where similar principles apply. "Sara Pankenier Weld argues that its central writers, artists, and theorists self-consciously used an aesthetic inspired by children's art, language, perspective, and logic to accomplish the artistic renewal they were seeking in literature, theory, and art. She treats the influence of children's drawings on the Neo-Primitivist art of Mikhail Larionov, the role of children's language in the Cubo-Futurist poetics of Aleksei Kruchenykh the role of the naive perspective in the formalist theory of Viktor Shklovsky, and the placed of children's logic and lore in Daniil Kharms' absurdist writings for children and adults."--Page [4] of cover Contents 8 Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction From Voicelessness to Voice 20 1 Infant Art: Mikhail Larionov, Children’s Drawings, and NeoPrimitivist Art 34 2 Infant Word: Aleksei Kruchenykh, Children’s Language, and CuboFuturist Poetics 77 3 Infant Eye: Viktor Shklovsky, the Naive Perspective, and Formalist Theory 118 4 Infant Mind: Daniil Kharms, Childish Alogism, and OBERIU Literature of the Absurd 169 Conclusion The End Point of the Infantilist Aesthetic 221 Notes 230 Bibliography 286 Index 310 Voiceless,Vanguard Introduction. From Voicelessness To Voice -- Infant Art : Mikhail Larionov, Children's Drawings, And Neo-primitivist Art -- Infant Word : Aleksei Kruchenykh, Children's Language, And Cubo-futurist Poetics -- Infant Eye : Viktor Shklovsky, The Naive Perspective, And Formalist Theory -- Infant Mind : Daniil Kharms, Childish Alogism, And Oberiu Literature Of The Absurd -- Conclusion. The End Point Of The Infantilist Aesthetic. Sara Pankenier Weld. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 273-296) And Index.