“A Familiar Khlebnikov Specialist in Kiev.” For the 85th Jubilee of A.E. Parnis

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of Alexander E. Parnis, who is known as a foremost researcher of Velimir Khlebnikov’s works, Russian futurism and Russian literature of the early 20th century overall. The author of the article marks main landmarks of the creative biography of the scholar, evaluates his most significant works and shows their importance for modern history of Russian literature. The text includes some personal memoires by the author who has been on close friendly terms with A. Parnis for many years. The work of the scholar is not only an overcoming of the resisting material, which, thanks to his efforts, becomes а transformation of the hidden into the open, of the unknown into the knowable, but also, to a certain extent, an overcoming of himself. The main wish to the “hero of the day” is to complete his main work, i. e. the scientific biography of Velimir Khlebnikov, chapters from which are already beginning to reach the reader.