“И если в ‘Харьковские птицы’…” Хлебникова: Попытка интерпретации

In his Iz lektsii po teorii slovesnosti. Basnia. Poslovitsa. Pogovorka (Kharkov 1892) A.A. Potebnia demonstrated how the story of a fable might be “condensed” into a proverb (“poslovitsa”), which, in its turn, might be “shortened” to a saying (“pogovorka”). The same process may be seen in the works of Velimir Khlebnikov. An entire story, idea or trope in one of his works is shortened to a mere hint in another work, or an allusion to an existing story becomes part of a new construction. We see this process of condensing and extension for instance in Khlebnikovʼs poem “I esli Kharkovskie ptitsy…” (1921), which is analysed in the article.