Velimir Khlebnikov

Velimir Khlebnikov (real name Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov) was a Russian poet and prose writer of the Silver Age, a reformer of poetic language, and one of the theorists of Russian Futurism and avant-garde art. Velimir Khlebnikov was born on November 9, 1885, in the village of Malye Derbety in the Astrakhan Governorate into the family of a scientist-biologist. In 1903 he graduated from a gymnasium in Kazan and entered Kazan University in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. However, because of his participation in student protests, he was expelled and spent some time under arrest.

 

In 1908 Khlebnikov moved to Saint Petersburg, enrolled at the university but did not complete his studies, and devoted himself entirely to literature. In Petersburg he became acquainted with and close to the Symbolists, attended literary events, and was interested in mythology and Slavic folklore. During this period he adopted a Slavic-derived pseudonym — Velimir.

 

His first published work was the poem 'The Temptation of the Sinner', which appeared in the magazine Vesna in 1908. It was then that he met the Futurists Vladimir Kamensky and David Burliuk. In 1921 Khlebnikov moved to Moscow, became a member of the Union of Poets, and was published in capital periodicals. By that time he had completed the work 'Zangezi', which the author himself described as a super-novel. Velimir Khlebnikov died on June 28, 1922, in the village of Santalovo in the Novgorod Governorate and was initially buried in the village of Ruchyi. In 1960 his remains were reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.