Lapa

Translator's Note

The difficulties of translating Kharms's Lapa begin with the title itself. In Russian the word "lapa" means "paw," as in the paw of a lion, a cat, a bear, or a sphinx. It belongs to something, but we do not know to what. It is a part of something and without that something it loses its meaning and function. In absence of its usual linguistic meaning and function, the word becomes pure sound, broadening the scope of its connotative meanings and adding a heightened sense of impervious mystery as to its referent.

As with many other such ambiguities in Lapa, it comes down to deciding whether this word is zaum [trans-sense] or part of the conventional language. Most often the answer is: both. It is arguable which reading holds for us its true or "real" meaning. Examples of this kind of duality abound in the manuscript. A similar case can be made for all the references to places and names of personal import. Likewise, the abundant wordplay and punning only serve to strengthen Kharms's eradication of a single narrow meaning of any one part and, therefore, also the sum of the whole. Thus, to attempt the translation of Lapa is as impossible as its staging; all the more enticing for that very reason.

The manuscript, written in an accountant's graph-paper notebook, includes a crossed-out ending, previously published by Meilakh and Earl (1978) in their footnotes to Lapa as an "alternative ending." This was Kharms's first proposed ending for Lapa, which he subsequently crossed out with a large "X," but did not remove it from his "accounts." In the next few weeks he went on to add a poem and another ending which have both been translated and included in this publication. In light of this, strangely enough, this English version may be the most complete reproduction of Lapa ever published.

We have decidedly kept everything in the exact order it is found in the notebook to preserve a semblance of the manuscript condition of this work. This kind of manuscript puts a double responsibility on the translator, who must also make editorial decisions in the process of creating a publishable text. In this case, it seems the most responsible editorial stance is to do as little as possible. Of course, the striking visual qualities of the manuscript cannot all be easily transferred to the typeset page, but I sincerely hope that at least the playful flavor of the language has been preserved, if somewhat recast. As a general rule, zaum words have been rendered phonetically on a level of sound, in a way that hopefully makes it easier to pronounce them the way they would sound in Russian. I have tried my best to recreate Kharms's neologisms with corresponding English roots and endings as my basic ingredients.

The source for the translation has mainly been the version of Lapa which appears in The Collected Works of Daniil Kharms, edited by Mikhail Meilakh and Vladimir Earl, 1978, which differs slightly from its more recent publication in Teatr, No. 11, 1991, edited by Anna Gerasimova and Julia Girba. Because of some suspicious inconsistencies between these two readings of the manuscript, whenever possible we have consulted the manuscript itself.

Here I must doubly thank Branislav Jakovljevic, my collaborator, for his decisive inquiry into the manuscript which is kept in the St. Petersburg Public Library and the seemingly inexhaustible knowledge and energy he has brought to our work on Kharms. I would also like to thank Vladimir Ibragimovich Earl for sharing his expert insights, Susanne Fusso who encouraged me to attempt the impossible task of this translation, and finally the Manuscripts Department of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library in St. Petersburg, for keeping Kharms's manuscripts safe and accessible.

The snore has in it ends of voices
snorts are as commas
pillow of tangled hairs
cross it with a holy key.
From his head a flower sprouts
it...