The establishment of media reflection in the poetics of Russian avant-garde: objectification of the word

Abstract

This paper examines the reflection of the representatives of Cubo-futurism and related art community (N. Kulbin, A. Kruchenykh, N. Burliuk) on the artistic expression and poetics of literature. The object of this research is the articles by N. Kulbin (“Liberal Arts as the Basis of Life”, “Meaning of the Theory of Art” in compilation “The Studio of Impressionists”, 1910), pamphlet “Declaration of the Word as Such” (written in 1913 by N. Kulbin, A. Kruchenykh), manifest of N. Kulbin “What the Word Is” (1914), articles by N. Burliuk (“Cubism”, “Texture” in compilation “Slap to a Public Taste”, 1913, “Poetic Beginnings” and “Supplementum to a Poetic Counterpoint” from the “First Journal of Russian Futurists”, 1914. The subject of this research is the evident in these articles orientation towards putting medium to the forefront, which is understood as a material basis of the text. The texts of all articles highlight the core metaphors that set a new understanding of a word as material and media whole. The scientific novelty of this study consists in referring to the process of metaphorical comprehension of a word as a material phenomenon, which has not been previously subjected to detailed analysis in Russian or foreign research tradition. The conclusion is made that due to sequential usage of metaphors (from the area of natural sciences or everyday experience) a word becomes a material object, manipulation with the physical image of which transform the connoted meaning.