Russian Literature LIII (2003) 347-386 North-Holland www.elsevier.com/locate/ruslit MINIMALISM AND PLAY IN ALEKSEJ KRUCENYCH’S CAUCASIAN BOOKS, 1917-1918 CHARLOTTE GREVE Until recently little was known about the large number of books that were produced by Aleksej KruCenych between 1916 and 1919. These books con- sisted of just a few leaves; they were very small and had a very primitive quality. They were only produced in a few numbers and have a homemade and even simpler look than the lithographed handwritten books made just a few years earlier. The books were made in the Caucasus at a time when Russia went through the First World War, two revolutions, and finally the civil war. It is therefore no wonder that previously there has been only scarce evidence as to the amount and content of these books. Finally, the books preceded the formation of 41’) a futurist group of poets and painters in Tiflis. which as an avant-garde movement has drawn much critical attention. How- ever, in 1982, Rosemarie Ziegler wrote a significant article on KruEenych’s production between 19 16 and 1919. Most recently the Majakovskij Museum in Moscow has issued a catalogue of its substantial collection, which gives a more thorough insight into the various printing techniques he used. But this catalogue reproduces only the covers and occasionally one or two pages from a few of the books and generally the reproductions of the books are still very scarce. Except for a few pages in various books, only the books TunSap, F/nag& and KaEildaz have been reproduced; the first in the article ‘Teorija “ momental’nogo tvorcestva” A. KruEenych’ from 1998 by Ekaterina Bo- brinskaja, the second in the book The Look of Russian Literature from 1984 by Gerald Janecek, and the third in the 2002 catalogue for the exhibition The 0304-3479/03/$ - see IYont matter 0 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. Al1 rights reserved doi: 10.1016/S0304-3479(03)00026-7