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Everything Has Already Been Written

Everything Has Already Been Written

Moscow Conceptualist Poetry and Performance

Studies in Russian Literature and Theory

by Gerald Janecek

Imprint: Northwestern University Press

280 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

Paperback
9780810139015
Published: December 2018

$39.95

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Hardcover
9780810139022
Published: December 2018

$120.00

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eBook
9780810139039
Published: December 2018

$39.95

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

Innovative poets such as Vsevolod Nekrasov, Lev Rubinstein, and Dmitry Prigov are among the most prominent literary figures of Russia in the 1980s and 1990s, yet they are virtually unknown outside Russia. The same is true of the numerous active Russian performance art groups, especially the pioneering Collective Actions group led by the brilliantly inventive Andrei Monastyrsky. Everything Has Already Been Written strives to make Moscow Conceptualism more accessible, to break the language barrier and to foster understanding among an international readership by thoroughly discussing a broad range of specific works and theories. Janecek’s study is the first comprehensive analysis of Moscow Conceptualist poetry and theory, vital for an understanding of Russian culture in the post‑Conceptualist era.

Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Introduction
2. The Lianozovo Group and Vsevolod Nekrasov
3. Lev Rubinstein
4. Dmitry Prigov
5. Conceptualist Performance: Andrei Monastyrsky and "Collective Actions"
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index

GERALD JANECEK is a professor emeritus of Russian at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of The Look of Russian Literature: Avant‑Garde Visual Experiments, 1900–1930; ZAUM: The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism; and Sight and Sound Entwined: Studies of the New Russian Poetry; and the editor of Staging the Image: Dmitry Prigov as Artist and Writer.

"This book is the first serious attempt to discuss the poetry and performance of the Moscow Conceptualist movement. Written in fluid, accessible language, Janecek's book demonstrates vast knowledge of the sources and a deep understanding of the cultural context in which the movements emerged and developed." —Boris Groys, author of History Becomes Form: Moscow Conceptualism

"This is an exceptionally well researched book that is clearly years in the making. Pulling together information from hundreds of printed and online sources relating to Moscow Conceptualism, it reflects an author motivated by intellectual passion and unflinching dedication to his endeavor." —Sarah Pratt, author of Russian Metaphysical Romanticism