Даниил Хармс: Жизнь и творчество русского авангардиста.

Russian writer

Daniil Ivanovich Kharms (Дании́л Ива́нович Хармс; 30 December 1905 [O. S. 17 December 1905] – 2 February 1942) was an early Soviet era Russian avant gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist.

Kharms was born as Daniil Yuvachev in St. Petersburg, into the family of Ivan Yuvachev, a member of the revolutionary group The People's Will. By the time of his son's birth, Ivan Yuvachev had already been imprisoned for his involvement in subversive acts against Tsar Alexander III and had become a philosopher. Daniil invented the pseudonym Kharms while attending Saint Peter's School. While at Saint Peter's, he learned the rudiments of both English and German, and it may have been the English words "harm" and "charm" that he incorporated into "Kharms". His pseudonym might have been also influenced by his fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, as the two words (Holmes and Harms) start and end similarly but there are a number of other theories regarding the pseudonym. Throughout his career, Kharms used variations on this name and the pseudonyms DanDan, Khorms, Charms, Shardam, and Kharms Shardam, among others. In 1924, he entered the Leningrad Electrotechnicum, from which he was expelled for "poor attendance," "not participating in community service," and not "fitting into the class physiologically".

After his expulsion, he gave himself over entirely to literature. He joined the circle of Aleksandr Tufanov, a sound poet, and follower of Velimir Khlebnikov's ideas of zaum (or trans sense) poetry. He met the young poet Alexander Vvedensky at this time, and the two became close friends and collaborators. In 1927, the Association of Writers of Children's Literature was formed, and Kharms was invited to be a member. From 1928 until 1941, Kharms continually produced children's works, to great success. In 1928, Daniil Kharms founded the avant garde collective Oberiu, or Union of Real Art. He embraced the new movements of Russian Futurism laid out by his idols, Khlebnikov, Kazimir Malevich, and Igor Terentiev, among others. Their ideas served as a springboard. His aesthetic centered around a belief in the autonomy of art from real world rules and logic, and that intrinsic meaning is to be found in objects and words outside of their practical function. In 1928, his play "Elizaveta Bam" ("Елизавета Бам") premiered; it is said to have foreshadowed the Theatre of the Absurd. The play begins with Elizaveta being arrested by the secret police for the murder of one of the arresting officers, who is later killed by another character, and ends with the first scene repeating. It has been compared to Kafka's Trial and Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading for its "depiction of a hapless individual destroyed by arbitrary governmental authority." on 30 December 2013, Google doodle celebrated Daniil Kharms’ 108th Birthday.

Kharms was married twice, to Esther Rusakova (1909 Marseilles, France – 1943 Magadan, USSR) and Marina Malich (1909 St. Petersburg, Russia – 2002 USA). His wives sometimes appear in some of his lyrical or erotic poems. 23 August 1941 – Kharms was arrested for spreading "libellous and defeatist mood". According to the NKVD report Kharms said:
"The USSR lost the war on its first day. Leningrad will be either besieged or starved to death. Or it will be bombed to the ground, leaving no stone standing. If they give me a mobilization order, I will punch the commander in the face, let them shoot me, but I will not put on the uniform and will not serve in the soviet forces, I do not wish to be such trash. If they force me to fire a machine gun from rooftops during street to street fights with the Germans, I would shoot not at the Germans, but at them, from the very same machine gun". To avoid execution, Kharms simulated insanity; the military tribunal ordered him to be kept in the psychiatric ward of the 'Kresty' prison due to the severity of the crime. Daniil Kharms died of starvation 2 February 1942 during the siege of Leningrad. His wife was informed that he was deported to Novosibirsk. Only on 25 July 1960, at the request of Kharms' sister, E. I. Gritsina, Prosecutor General's Office found him not guilty and he was exonerated.

Beginning in the 1970s many of Kharms' children's texts were set to music, and were often played on the radio. Ted Milton staged a performance around Kharms' texts, entitled In Kharms Way (with laptop musician Sam Britton). *The band Esthetic Education composed its poem Juravli I Korabli ("Cranes and Ships"). It appeared on their debut album Face Reading, and on their live album Live at Ring. Composer Hafliði Hallgrímsson has composed music featuring Daniil Kharms writings translated into English. The American writer George Saunders has written that he is partly "inspired by a certain absurdist comic tradition," listing Kharms alongside Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Monty Python, Steve Martin, and Jack Handey. In 2003 Dutch musical ensemble De Kift recorded an opera based on the play "Elizaveta Bam" (1928) by Daniil Kharms. In 1998 Belgian musician and composer Peter Vermeersch has composed and recorded an album "Charms" based on Daniil Kharms' lyrics, sung in Dutch. The music has been composed for a theatre production by Walpurgis in co production with the arts centre Vooruit. The American rapper billy woods titled his 2015 LP Today I Wrote Nothing. woods' work frequently touches on the same themes as Kharms', focusing on the absurdity and degradation of poverty. In 2022, the improvisational band The Daniil Kharms recorded Post Gogol World, a vocal jazz album featuring novel English translations of 8 short texts by Kharms.