‘Hallberd of Balderdash’ or an attempt at decoding Alexei Chicherin’s construemes (dedicated to the 100th anniversary of their publication)
... meaningless visual zaum ('the transrational'), Chicherin's actions and the very nature of his personality prevent one from interpreting 'construemes' as actionist endeavours to scandalise or a 'play on nonsense'. Analysis of the poet's treatise Kan-Fun (Moscow, 1926), which required finding the key to deciphering the 'construemes', reveals the positivist nature of Chicherin's visual-phonological exercises. In the treatise, the poet argues for the primacy of the eye and vision. He illustrates ...
