Daniil Kharms, p.5
MALTONIUS OLBREN
The Plot: M. wishes to rise three feet above the ground. He stands for hours facing the wardrobe. Over the wardrobe hangs a painting, but he can’t see it: the wardrobe’s in the way. Days, weeks and months go by. Every day the man stands in front of the wardrobe and tries to rise up into the air. He fails to rise, but he does start to have visions, the same vision every time. Every time he picks out more and more details. M. forgets that he wanted to rise above the ground and gives himself over completely to the study of the vision. And then one time when the maid was cleaning the room, she asked him to take down the painting so that she could wipe the dust off. When M. got up on a stool and glanced at the painting, he saw that the painting depicted what he had seen in his vision. That’s when he understood that for a long time already he had been rising into the air, hovering in front of the wardrobe and seeing the painting.
Treatment.
(translation by Matvei Yankelevich)
The Plot: M. wishes to rise three feet above the ground. He stands for hours facing the wardrobe. Over the wardrobe hangs a painting, but he can’t see it: the wardrobe’s in the way. Days, weeks and months go by. Every day the man stands in front of the wardrobe and tries to rise up into the air. He fails to rise, but he does start to have visions, the same vision every time. Every time he picks out more and more details. M. forgets that he wanted to rise above the ground and gives himself over completely to the study of the vision. And then one time when the maid was cleaning the room, she asked him to take down the painting so that she could wipe the dust off. When M. got up on a stool and glanced at the painting, he saw that the painting depicted what he had seen in his vision. That’s when he understood that for a long time already he had been rising into the air, hovering in front of the wardrobe and seeing the painting.
Treatment.
(translation by Matvei Yankelevich)