Daniil Charms (1905 – 1942) was an early Soviet-era avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. He was a member of the Association of Writers of Children’s Literature and, from 1928 until 1941, continually produced children’s works, to great success. In 1931 he was arrested and exiled for a year: soviet authorities, having become increasingly hostile toward the avant-garde in general, deemed Kharms’ writing for children anti-Soviet because of its refusal to instill materialist and social Soviet values. Again arrested in 1941, he was ordered to be kept in the psychiatric ward of the Kresty prison, where he died of starvation on February, 2nd 1942, during the siege of Leningrad.
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The Animal Race
One time, the lion, the elephant, the giraffe, the deer, the ostrich, the moose, the wild horse and the dog argued about who could run the fastest. So, they decided to set up a competition. Whoever would complete a lap around the lake first, would be the fastest. But it won’t be a regular competition. For instance, after leading for…
