Vitaliy Babenko.
Nisenitnitsa, or 500 Years of Russian Absurdist Literature (18+)

A collection of folkloric and authorial works written in the genre of the Absurd.

Nisenitnitsa, or 500 Years of the Russian Absurd is a book compiled by the writer Vitaly Babenko. Previous volumes by Babenko include Tales of Revolts and Truffles. Extraordinary Russian fantastic prose of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and Ghosts from All Sides. Extraordinary Russian fantastic prose of the nineteenth century.

Photo: Ruslan Shavaleev

Vitaly Babenko (b. 1950) is a Russian writer, journalist, translator, publisher, and teacher. He lives and works in Moscow. The history of Russian fiction is one of his many interests.

Oleg Kuznetsov (b. 1993) is a multidisciplinary artist, publisher, and teacher. He lives and works in Moscow. His artistic practice focuses on the processes and ethics of street art. He experiments with materials, exhibition formats, and visual methods.

This collection is dedicated to one of the most ancient literary genres—the absurd. It brings together both authorial works and examples of folklore: legends, tall tales, nonsense stories, songs, “histories,” and much more. All texts are presented in the form in which they first appeared in print.

In his preface, Babenko explains the meaning of the mysterious word nisenitnitsa and examines the characteristics and history of absurdist literature, building a complex system of color principles—amaranth, beige, blue, umber, reseda green, and wild. Together, these shades form the fullest possible definition of absurdity as a phenomenon that dates back to ancient literature and reflects an «inside-out,» inverted world in which the logic of life is disrupted and Man is set in a deliberately surreal environment. Particular attention is given to laughter and the culture of laughter, both of which are essential elements of the genre.

An important feature of this publication is the series of charcoal pencil illustrations by the artist Oleg Kuznetsov.