Imaginism was a 1918–1925 literary association of

Russian poets This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z See also * List of Russian architects * L ...

of the

Silver Age The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...

. Representatives of imaginism stated that the purpose of creativity is to create an image. The main expressive means of imaginists is metaphor, often metaphorical chains that juxtapose various elements of two images: direct and figurative. The creative practice of the imaginists was characterized by outrageous, anarchic motives.

History

Imaginism was founded in 1918 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

by a group of poets including

Anatoly Marienhof Anatoly Borisovich Marienhof or Mariengof (; 6 July O.S. 24 June">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 24 June1897 – 24 June 1962) was a Russian poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one ...

Vadim Shershenevich Vadim Gabrielevich Shershenevich (; 25 January 1893 – 18 May 1942) was a Russian poet. He was highly prolific, working in more than one genre, moving from Symbolism to Futurism after meeting Marinetti in Moscow. Later he pioneered the post-revo ...

, and

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (, ; 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century. One of his narratives was "lyrical evocations ...

, who wanted to distance themselves from the

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

s; the name may have been influenced by

imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism has been termed "a successi ...

. Stylistically, they were heirs to

Ego-Futurism Ego-Futurism was a Russian literary movement of the 1910s, developed within Russian Futurism by Igor Severyanin and his early followers. While part of the Russian Futurism movement, it was distinguished from the Moscow-based cubo-futurists as it ...

. Imaginists created poetry based on sequences of arresting and uncommon

image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

s. They wrote many verbless poems. Other members of the group were the poets

Rurik Ivnev Rurik Ivnev (), born Mikhail Alexandrovich Kovalyov () ( – 19 February 1981), was a Russian poet, novelist and translator. Biography Early years Rurik Ivnev was born into a nobleman's family in Tiflis (Tbilisi). His father, Alexander Sam ...

, Alexander Kusikov, Ivan Gruzinov,

Matvey Royzman Matvei or Matvey (Матвей) is the Russian language variation of Matthew. Notable people with the name include: * Matvey Blanter (1903–1990), Russian composer of popular and film music * Matvei Bronstein (1906–1938), Soviet theoretical phys ...

, and the prominent Russian dramatist

Nikolay Erdman Nikolai Robertovich Erdman ( rus, Николай Робертович Эрдман, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ˈrobʲɪrtəvʲɪtɕ ˈɛrdmən, a=Nikolay Robyertovich Erdman.ru.vorb.oga; , Moscow – 10 August 1970) was a Soviet dramatist and screenwriter ...

. In January 1919 they issued a manifesto, whose text was largely written by Shershenevich. Most of the imaginists were freethinkers and

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Imaginism had its main centres in Moscow and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. There were also smaller centres of imaginism in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Imaginists organised four poetry publishing houses, one of which was called simply Imaginism, and published the poetry magazine ''Gostinitsa dlya puteshestvuyuschih v prekrasnom'' ("Guesthouse for travellers in the beautiful"). The group broke up in 1925, and in 1927 it was liquidated officially. Its heritage, though, is still strong in Russia. Poems by Yesenin and Shershenevich, memoirs by Marienhof, and plays by Erdman are still in print and always in demand. After the disappearance of the group, the "young imaginists" declared themselves followers of this trend in the early 1930s, and so did the "meloimaginists" of the 1990s. Kudryavitsky, "Popytka zvuka."

Literature

* Markov, V. ''Russian Imaginism 1919-1924''. Gießen 1980. * Nilsson, N. ''The Russian imaginists''. Ann Arbor: Almgvist and Wiksell, 1970. * Huttunen, T. ''Imazhinist Mariengof: Dendi. Montazh. Ciniki''. Moscow: NLO, 2007. * Ponomareff, C. "The Image Seekers: Analysis of Imaginists Poetic Theory, 1919-1924." ''The Slavic and East European Journal'' 12 (1986). * Kudryavitsky, A.
Popytka zvuka
" ''Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie'' 35 (1999).

Notes

External links

Montage in Russian Imaginism : Poetry, Theatre and Theory
{{Authority control Russian poetry Literary movements