Tracking the Explosion: The Russian Futurist Movement

The first thing I did (before absolutely anything else) when I started this unit of poetry, was the research the movement the poetry was born from. What I found was a movement that had snowballed from past movements, and continued into others, both vertically and horizontally. Originally traced back to 1912, in the form of the Hyalaean movement, Russian Futurism got its true start when its “founding fathers” – Velemir Khlebnikov and Vladimir Mayakovsky – gathered works from themselves and others to create the manifesto, “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste”. Along with Hyalaea, other influences to the movement were the Ego Futurists, the Italian Futurists, and Tsentrifuga. Along with this, there is an inherent (and often, unrecognized) similarity to some of the works of its leader (Mayakovsky) and Walt Whitman. Mayakovsky’s works mimic the free-verse and hailing of the natural world, yet is far darker and more cynical of the natural realities.

Arguably more important than its influences, though, is the writing itself and the art it also entailed. Both art forms explored a world frustrated with ideals created by Big Brother, relaying these woes next to universal plights such as jilted lovers and deaths of close ones. Problems both big and small were placed next to each other, in a colorful manner focused as much on the issues as it was on the “sound” and “movement” each piece created. By creating nonsense in order to maintain a specific beat, the Russian Futurists not only questioned what was beautiful, but also what is logical.

Obviously, the effects of such a movement in both literature and art carried over into all of society and culture. The Russian Futurists followed right beside the first World War, providing a social commentary like none other. Their works were individual and significant to the self, yet tied to the major complaints of any citizen. Their works reminded me a lot of jazz; it made perfect sense and sound, built out of complex syncopation and “noise”. Perhaps it influenced this movement in music. It most definitely was the forerunner to the Dadaist movement, which was sparked by the end of World War I. Furthermore, the free verse of both Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov seems to be the predecessor to the Beat Movement, which later lent itself to the modern face of rock and roll.

Russian Futurism embraced changed by building off past experience. At its core, it seemed to be trying to relate the self to the larger world, questioning the faces of creation, beauty, and authority. Its rebellious tendency gave life to some of the most passionate, rich, and dynamic work to come out of the 20th century.