Eduard Limonov (b. 1943) remains one of the most controversial
figures in Russia today. From a minor samizdat poet of the early
seventies to a best-selling author and a leader of the
National-Bol&soft;&shachek;evik party in the nineties, the Limonov
phenomenon has drawn varied interpretations (Matich, Titunik, Smirnov,
Zholkovsky, Beraha, Ryan-Hayes). None of these interpretations,
however, has explored Limonov's participation in the Moscow
avant-garde group Konkret whose founders and members
(Bax&chachek;anjan, Sapgir, and others) promoted the aesthetics of the
Russian futurists and Oberiu. When examined in the context of
Konkret's literary aspirations, Limonov's best works
(