Anthony Anemone (PhD University of California, Berkeley) is associate professor of Russian language and literature at The New School. He is the author of numerous articles on modern Russian literature and cinema, and the editor of Just Assassins: The Culture of Terrorism in Russia (Northwestern UP 2010).
“Gives the best sense of any book in English of Kharms both within
his context and as a deeply fascinating individual whose work can’t
be explained away by the circumstances of its creation. . . . A
huge addition to the Kharms canon in English. . . . Dozens of
entries translated here for the first time that are just as great,
as weird and delightful and mysterious, as his better-known
works.”
*BOMBlog*
“[Kharms’s notebooks] are generously sampled and gracefully
translated by Anemone (The New School) and Scotto (Mount Holyoke
College). . . . Not only have they succeeded in producing a vivid,
often poignant portrait of Kharms, they offer a host of new texts
in English—many as funny, violent, and profoundly existential as
any seen before. . . . Highly recommended.”
*M. Kasper (professor emeritus, Amherst College)*
Anemone and Scotto do an outstanding job in conveying the texture
of Kharms's writings. . . . The notebooks, diaries, and letters
presented in ‘I Am a Phenomenon’ show the breadth of Kharms's
interests, in literature, music, art, philosophy, psychology,
mathematics, religion. . . . Certain sections of the book can be
seen as a creative workshop for Kharms's literary works. . . a
glimpse of contexts into which readers can place their knowledge of
his literary works. More than that, the book documents Kharms's
hopes, doubts, frustrations, and physical and psychic pains about
work and life. . . . Anemone and Scotto have done an excellent job.
They state, ‘We believe that we have remained true to the spirit of
the notebooks’ (p. 43). Absolutely!
*The Russian Review, January 2014*
“In producing this volume Anemone and Scotto have faced not just a
challenge of translation, but also one of organization and
interpretation. They have extracted material from the notebooks and
arranged it in chronological order. They have added a potted
biography, notes on their approach to the selection and treatment
of the notebook entries, a chronology of events from Kharms’s life
and times, a glossary of people, places and concepts, and a copious
commentary to contextualize the entries. Yet, for all this imposed
order, they have striven to represent the ‘wild heterogeneity’ (p.
45) of the original notebooks. The result is a fascinating, if
disjointed, read. . . . Whether they represent a new genre or a
collision of genres, the notebooks certainly offer another point of
departure for elaborating Kharms’s artistic legacy. . . . Remaining
true to [Iakov] Druskin’s view that life and art are close to
indistinguishable in an author like Kharms, Anemone and Scotto have
adopted a policy of maximum disclosure. This excellent compilation
of Kharms’s notebooks can be seen, therefore, as both a
biographical portrait and a literary-critical assessment.”
*The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 92, No. 3 (July
2014)*
“As the [editors] themselves clearly indicated in the section about
their translation, their intention to write “a creative biography
in documents” has been thoroughly accomplished. It is obvious that
the [editors] are intimately familiar with and have made extensive
use of the original handwritten sources and original documents. The
translations are of a very high quality showing that the [editors]
have attempted to bring out the full meaning of Kharms’ writings.
For anyone interested in Daniil Kharms, his life and his times this
book constitutes an invaluable source.”
*International Journal of Russian Studies, Issue No. 3
(2014/2)*
Those familiar with Kharms (1905–1942) won’t need encouragement to
pick up this collection of writing, much of it translated for the
first time; this writer, a Soviet avant-garde legend, could make a
dog laugh.”
*Book News, Inc.*
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