The posthumous legacy of Khlebnikov versus Mayakovsky sub specie Avant-Garde performance of scandal Debating the semiotic pragmatics of Avant-Garde behavior and life-creation

The paper addresses the issue of the posthumous legacies of the two main Russian Avant-Garde revolutionary poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Velemir Khlebnikov and draws largely on the memoir accounts available in this regard. The essay examines the pragmatics of operation of the post-Futurist public scandal which contributed to establishing/undermining the "symbolic value" of each poet's debated legacy. The paper brings into discussion various methods of cultural analysis that include Bourdieu's notion of symbolic capital, theory of speech-acts and different apprehensions of public memory. Some inconsistencies in the strategic maneuvering of each author are brought into attention, dwelling upon the possible reasoning for their respective successes and failures. The complex issues that may be seen responsible for this process are analyzed in the essay along with additional Russian avant-garde figures who exploited the same pragmatics of performing practices.