Minna Alanko
The poet on a drawing table
The story of The Redheaded Man was written by Russian absurdist, Daniil Kharms, in 1937. Illustrating this same story in three different ways demonstrates the impact of illustration on the interpretation of the story by placing an illustrator into a highlighted position as the producer of visual content and ideas.
“There lived a redheaded man who had no eyes or ears. He didn’t have hair either, so he was called a redhead arbitrarily. He couldn’t talk because he had no mouth. He had no nose either. He didn’t even have arms or legs. He had no stomach, he had no back, he had no spine, and he had no innards at all. He didn’t have anything. So we don’t even know who we’re talking about. It’s better that we don’t talk about him any more.”*
* Daniil Kharms, 2009. Today I Wrote Nothing – The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms. Translated from the Russian by Matvei Yankelevich. Ardis Publishers. New York.
“There lived a redheaded man who had no eyes or ears. He didn’t have hair either, so he was called a redhead arbitrarily. He couldn’t talk because he had no mouth. He had no nose either. He didn’t even have arms or legs. He had no stomach, he had no back, he had no spine, and he had no innards at all. He didn’t have anything. So we don’t even know who we’re talking about. It’s better that we don’t talk about him any more.”*
* Daniil Charms, 2009. Today I Wrote Nothing – The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms. Översatt från ryska av Matvej Jankelevitj. Ardis Publishers. New York.
