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Finding Meaning from Zaum

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How does Kruchenyk's Zaum language relate to the rules of Russian? How can we extract meaning from certain characteristics of this work?

Kruchenyk's poem, as stated by the author, is written in the Zaum language, rather than Russian. Zaum, which roughly translates to "beyond the mind," fills the poem with entirely nonsensical words. In writing this piece, Kruchenyk alternates between following certain conventions of Russian, yet at the same time breaking them through his Zaum language. 

In constructing the words of the piece, Kruchenyk generally sticks to the rules of Russian. However, while both "dyr" and "bul" follow the phonological patterns of Russian, but the last word of the line, "schul," does not. After a certain set of seven consonants, the vowel "И" should be used instead of "Ы."

The final line, "р л эз" is also worthy of discussion. If we understand the constituents of this line to be simply letters, then the poem seems to break down from more complex constructions to its individual parts. However, the inclusion of "эз" makes this difficult to corroborate. On the contrary, we could perceive these three to be words themselves. I choose the latter, and see this poem as an exercise in demonstrating the possibilities of the Zaum language. The sounds are more important than the printed letters. 

What seems to be scribbles underneath the poem is actually Mikhail Larionov's depiction of a nude woman, a contemporary of Aleksei Kruchenyk. Similar to the construction of the poem, Larionov's creation purposefully distances itself from the conventional process of drawing and artistry.

Starting from the top, we transition from language as we know it, to dabbling in Zaum, to Zaum in artistry. The three components of the page work together to mark this transition into the practice of the Zaum language. The notion of a grammar and a lexicon is what makes the opening statement differ from the poem. I believe that Kruchenyk, unknowingly, is trying to challenge this notion through this piece. 

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  1. Utopians, Prospectus!: tentative explorations of Russian Avant-garde art, literature and book arts Christopher Gilman

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