Page:Knight (1975) Past, Future and the Problem of Communication in the Work of V V Khlebnikov.djvu/26

18 wider than that, to a consideration of the European climate of the time, with particular reference perhaps to the impact of the theories of Einstein. Nevertheless, one can find in Symbolism itself an important part of the explanation for the genesis of Khlebnikov's ideas.

Within the framework of the general Symbolist mood of gloom, the themes of the immutability of time's laws, the regularity of its flow and the eternal, meaningless repetition of events had for long formed some of the most nightmarish motifs, particularly in the work of Blok. These themes are closely related to the Russian concept of 'byt' which will be discussed in a later chapter. But we may note here that as early as in 1901, Blok had written of his mournful spirit being hypnotized by "the evil laws of time." And much later, in 1918, he was to jot in his diary the lines of a letter to Mayakovsky—who shared Khlebnikov's extreme "revolutionary" optimism as to the possibility of overcoming these laws. Blok's tone was polemical. "The tooth of history", he insisted,

"is far more venomous than you think: we can never get away from the condemnation of time."

When this Symbolist sensation of historical "condemnation" is