Page:Knight (1975) Past, Future and the Problem of Communication in the Work of V V Khlebnikov.djvu/17

9 Chapter Two:

SYMBOLISM AND THE IDEA OF DEATH AND REBIRTH.

This chapter introduces the theme of Khlebnikov's reaction against an aspect of the Symbolist outlook. Khlebnikov personally experienced the feeling of spiritually "dying"—a recurring Symbolist theme. But, as he came into contact with the Symbolists, the poet recoiled from the idea of death. In later years, he would accept the inevitability of the death of the "I", but only as a prelude to re—birth as a "We".