Daniel Harms's Dystopian Writing And Russian Avant-garde Literatur

Daniel Kharms(Даниил Хармс,1905-1942)was a representative avant-garde writer who was active in the Soviet Union in the late 20 s and 30 s.However,the research of his works are not in the same style of contemporary research context,and Kharms’ s research is still ranked as "niche",especially on the form and content of dystopian writing of his literary.In recent years,the field of Russian literature has increasingly recognized that the study of Kharms is to a large extent an in-depth and complementary study of Russian avant-garde literature.His creation not only inherits the avant-garde artistic concepts such as futurism,but also continues to develop on this basis,presenting the characteristics of dystopian literature.The research on Kharms presents the process how Russian and Soviet avant-garde literature was discovered and interpreted.Avantgarde literature and its dystopian writing have always been an important part of Russian-Soviet literature.throughout the history of the development of Russian and Soviet literature,there are complex genres and diverse compositions.As a clue throughout the 20 th century,Russian-Soviet literature has experienced growth,prosperity,invisibility,and finally returned to the public vision,showing tenacious vitality.And the dystopian writing has more practical significance because of the positive attitude towards individuals.As a representative writer of the avant-garde,Kharms entered the literary scene in the late 1920 s,paying more attention to the dilemma of individual survival in his creations,presenting dystopian ideas diametrically opposed to the avant-garde in the revolutionary context.This article is centered on Daniel Kharms ’s activities and creations,and its divided into four chapters:The first chapter focuses on Kharms and Russian avant-garde literature,clarifying the various genres of avant-garde literature and the strong personality and individual heroism shown by the avant-garde writers in their creation;Secondly,introduces the literary activities of Kharms,and in the manifesto of the "True Art Association" headed by him,Kharms expressed his thoughts on the truth.The second chapter discusses the contradictory attitude of the avant-garde between utopia and dystopia,and Kharms final turn to dystopia.The October Revolution made the avant-garde see new possibilities for transforming the world.The avant-garde in the context of the revolution made political choices and enthusiastically praised the new life.However,the situation of the avant-garde in the late 1920 s was already in jeopardy,and its utopian consciousness was not very firm compared to those of the October Revolution;under such a background,Kharms chose to express "truth" that was completely different from the mainstream literature’s definition of "real",and turned completely to dystopian writing.The third chapter focuses on Kharms ’s most important collection of novels Accident as the main research object,supplemented by a small number of poems and dramas of Kharms,and discusses the specific embodiment of Kharms ’s dystopian writing.In the chaotic and disorderly world,the social meaning of the characters is missing,and the individual consciousness is empty and passivated.It can be found that Kharms ’s comprehensive deconstruction of the utopian world.The fourth chapter explores how individuals establish their existence and express themselves in the dystopian world,and analyzes the frequently appearing "death" and "flight" in Kharms ’s works by means of close reading of the text.In fact,the fear of death expresses the value of individual existence and life,while flight bears the burden of resistance and the thirst for freedom,and through the different manifestations of death,violence and flight in children and adults,Kharms conveyed his understanding of reality and existence.Due to the literary context in the 1930 s,Kharms ’s works were not published during his lifetime,and began to be published successively after the 1960 s.The style of Kharms ’s works is generally different from that of contemporary Soviet literature,or Kharms ’s can be called the "B side" of Soviet literature history.Therefore,the research on Kharms is more meaningful and necessary,and it can glimpse the diversity of Russian and Soviet literature.