zaum

Zaum (Russian: заумь or заумный язык) is a word used to describe the language experiments of Russian Futurist poets such as Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchenykh.

Coined by Kruchenykh in 1913, the word zaum is made up of the Russian prefix za- (beyond, behind) and noun um (the mind) and has been translated as "transreason" or "beyonsense". According to scholar Gerald Janecek, zaum can be defined as experimental poetic language characterized by indeterminacy in meaning.

Examples of zaum include Kruchenykh's poem "dyr bul schyl" and his libretto for the Futurist opera "Victory Over the Sun", and Khlebnikov's so-called "Language of the Birds", "Language of the Gods" and "Language of the Stars". In modern times, contemporary avant-garde poet Sergei Biriukov has founded an association of poets called the "Academy of Zaum" in Tambov. Other practitioners of zaum poetry include Serge Segay and Rea Nikonova.

External Links:

General overview of zaum (English) Examples of zaum (National Center of Contemprary Art, Kaliningrad) (English) Chapter Nine of G. Janecek, Zaum: The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism (English)

Lecture by Z. Laskewicz: Zaum: Words Without Meaning or Meaning Without Words? Towards a Musical Understanding of Language (English) Article by A. Purin: Meaning and Zaum (Russian) Tambov Academy of Zaum (Russian; Cyrillic KOI8-R encoding)

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