Cosmogonoeschatological and Easter archetypes in the work of Daniil Kharms in the 1930s

Abstract

The research is devoted to the dynamics of D.I. Kharms’ creativity in the 1930s: if his early work functions in accordance with the ideas of the cosmogonomeschatological archetype, then later he turns to the Easter archetype, especially in the story “The Old Woman” (1939), which can be described as the final point of abandonment of the avant-garde. The goal is to show the process of Kharms's transition from the cosmic-eschatological to the Easter archetype. This process in the work of Kharms is described for the first time. The research material is Kharms' works of the 1930s. The methodology is determined by modern theoretical ideas about the categories of archetype and myth. The transition from the cosmogonoeschatological archetype to the Easter archetype begins in the work of Kharms with the story “Morning” (1931), where Kharms focuses on describing everyday life, while the main motive in the story becomes the motive of waiting for a miracle that will never happen. This story differs from the previous works of Kharms and shows the writer's departure from the positions of his own philosophical treatises of 1927-1931 and from the type of thinking characteristic of the avant-garde - the cosmic-eschatological archetype. This leads to the destruction of the myth in his work as a picture of the world that explains the world, leads to the formation of a plot of doubt, the functioning of which leads to total incoherence and disunity in his poetics. The result is the story “The Old Woman,” in which the archetype of Easter is actualized, as a result of which the spiritual revival of the hero associated with the appeal to God takes place.

Keywords

• daniil kharms
• myth
• avant-garde
• cosmogonoeschatological archetype
• easter archetype