The Inner Form of Zaum'

Humboldtian Paradigm of P.A. Florensky in the Light of the Theoretical Works of I. Terent'ev and I. Zdanevich

Abstract

The article discusses the genealogy of zaum' theory, associated with the Inner Form of Language concept, which was set forth in the works of W. von Humboldt and A.A. Potebnya. The author investigates the interpretation of zaum' poems by P. Florensky, and in this context, he studies theoretical treatises of representatives of the radical futuristic group 41° (A. Kruchenyh, I. Terent'ev, I. Zdanevich). The author concludes that zaumniki had a foundation in Humboldtian opposition ergon/energeia in the language, but they do not deconstruct one of its elements, but the very border between them, and by that, they opened the Inner Form of Language. That is why they prefer the sound to the meaning of the words in practice. The rejection of the meaning can be interpreted as attempts to resolve the problem of the senselessness of language when it freezes in stationary ergon without connection between external and inner forms as it was presented in the ideal linguistic world of Wilhelm von Humboldt and A.A. Potebnya. Thereby zaum' was a unique experiment in the history of poetry, the attempt to overcome the disconnection between the object and the idea. Furthermore, although the concept of zaum' was born as a protest against the Humboldtian tradition in language philosophy, it was an intention to find the same unity of individual and national language that german romantics called “Inner Form of the Language”