ZANGEZI A Supersaga in Planes: translated, introduced, and annotated by Chris Sawyer (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781733659284)

Written in 1922 by Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov, Zangezi is one of the central experiments of the historical avant-garde: a "supersaga" composed not of acts or scenes but of planes-distinct strata of language that move between bird calls, myth, mathematics, prophecy, and pure sound.

Part drama, part chant, part linguistic theory, the work dissolves the boundary between speech and event. Consonants become forces, letters become historical actors, and zaum (transrational sound language) overtakes ordinary meaning.

This edition presents a complete new English translation that preserves the density of Khlebnikov's sound experiments alongside an introduction, glossary, and explanatory notes situating the poem within Russian Futurism and early twentieth-century avant-garde poetics.

Zangezi stands alongside the work of Mayakovsky, Kruchenykh, and the European modernists as a foundational text of experimental literature and sound poetry.

Author: Chris Sawyer,Velimir Khlebnikov
ISBN-10: 1733659285
ISBN-13: 9781733659284
Publisher: Antimony
Language: English
Published: 03/15/2026
Pages: 62
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.16lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.15d