Уничтоженный и забытый журнал Standard (1924): крах проекта конструктивистского дайджеста-ревю
The Suppressed and Forgotten Journal Standard (1924): The Failure of a Constructivist Digest-Review Project

Summary/Abstract: In the spring of 1924, the 27-year-old Yeghishe Charents, a renowned poet and reformer of Armenian verse, collaborated with fellow Vkhutemas associates Karo Halabyan and Mikayel Mazmanyan (who would later become prominent architects) to launch the avant-garde journal Standard in Moscow. Having begun his pre-revolutionary career as a Post-Symbolist, Charents — then in his third year of residency in Moscow — demonstrated a clear inclination toward Futurism and Imagism. Simultaneously, his work reflected an awareness of the mounting ideological pressures and the transformations that former Russian Futurists, led by Vladimir Mayakovsky, had undergone within the framework of Soviet reality. Notably, during the 1920s, critics frequently labeled Charents the «Armenian Mayakovsky», often with a pejorative connotation. Printed in Moscow in May 1924 and published entirely in Armenian, Standard was subtitled «A Journal of Literature and Art», a designation that extended far beyond purely literary confines. Its multidisciplinary structure defined the project as a comprehensive monthly or quarterly review encompassing LITERATURE, GRAPHICS, SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE, THEATER, AND CINEMA. The inaugural issue featured manifestos, exhibition overviews, reviews, polemics, and short translations of texts by Sergei Tretyakov and George Grosz. Although the print run was completed in May 1924, the authors themselves burned the copies only a few days later. This article reconstructs the historical and cultural context that necessitated the journal’s destruction. With its provocative title, Standard represents an attempt to consolidate Leftist forces under the banner of Constructivism; it remains a significant artifact of its era — a project that, despite its ambition, failed to manifest as an established fact within the literary and artistic process.

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