Surrealist Text and Animation in Gennady Shpalikov and Andrey Khrzhanovsky

Abstract

The paper aims to highlight the influence of Gennady Shpalikov in the creation of Khrzhanovsky’s early films; particular attention should be given to Zhil-byl Kozyavin [There Lived Kozyavin], where is evident the reference to Lazar’ Lagin’s Surrealist prose. In Steklyannaya garmonika [The Glass Harmonica] (1968) Surrealism draws on various figurative sources, including Ren. Magritte’s L’homme au chapeau melon [The Man in the Bowler Hat] (1964). It is believed that Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s debut animated film There Lived Kozyavin allowed the famous screenwriter of I’m Walking on Moscow, Zastava Ilyicha, The Long Happy Life, to reveal new and unexpected sides of himself. At the same time, noting the relevance of the Surrealist text in second half of the 20th-century Russian art, despite the ostracism of Soviet censorship, the paper will reflect on the implemented narrative strategies, putting in evidence the contribution of the Russian literary tradition in the early film animation of Andrei Khrzhanovsky.