V.V. Mayakovsky and W.C. Williams: Poet-Painters Within the Context of Artistic Communities

Slavic Literatures (ранее - Russian Literature). 2025. Vol. 154-156. P. 249–280.

Anna S.

The article discusses the involvement of Mayakovsky and American poet William Carlos Williams in the activities of creative communities of painters and poets, as well as the communicative frameworks established in these communities. Using R. Collins’ concept of ‘communicative ritual’ and M. Farrell’s concept of ‘collaborative circles,’ the author demonstrates that the Russian Cubo-Futurism and American avant-garde circles, which contextualized the projects of Williams and Mayakovsky, shared a set of similar rituals and exhibited similar, yet not identical, stages of development. A common ground was also found in the fact that, in both cases, parallels were similarly drawn between visual arts and literature. Visual arts served as a source of media-oriented reflection, prompting poets to liberate the signifier from the signified in a manner similar to that of painters. The author also investigates significant divergences between the artistic communities, juxtaposing the communal spirit of the Russian avant-garde with the more individualistic approaches of the American avant-garde, and showing that this contrast is one of the phenomena underlying the reputations of Mayakovsky, the public figure, and Williams, the recluse.

Keywords: American modernism, американский модернизм, русский авангард и творчество Маяковского, russian avant-garde and Mayakovsky, V.V. Mayakovksy, У.К. Уильямс, В.В. Маяковский