A spell-poem as a type of a ‘word machine’ in the early works by Daniil Kharms (based on his poem ‘Govor’ (‘Patois’))

This paper is devoted to the typological features of the genre system of Daniil Kharms in the context of the concept of «word machine», which Kharms understood as a way to affect reality by word. All in all the writer distinguishes four types of «word machines»: a poem, spell, prayer and song. However, in the works by Kharms there also occur mixed versions of «word machines» in addition to the «pure» poems: being poems in the form, they can be other «word machines» in essence. The presence in the works by Kharms such «mixed» types as poetic prayers and «song-poems» allows the author to assume the existence of a third «mixed» type - that of spell-poems. The author bases his concept of a spell-poem on an analysis of the early texts by Kharms (presented in this paper is an analysis of his poem ‘Govor’ (1925)).

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