Exploring the Essence of Poetry. The Case of Nina Iskrenko's polistilistika and Ry Nikonova's vakuumnaya poeziya

The paper analyses the meaningful role of Nina Iskrenko and Ry Nikonova’s poetry in the Russian unofficial culture of the 1970s and 1980s. The works of both of these female writers, influenced by Moscow Conceptualism, aimed to explore the unlimited possibilities of literature, thus overcoming the absolutism of conventional poetic language. Not only did Iskrenko and Nikonova prove to be the spiritual leaders of the underground artistic groups Klub Poeziya and Transfurism, respectively, but they were also the authors of two innovative poetic theories, Polistilistika and Vakuumnaya literatura, which fostered a reconnection with the essence of language.