Abstract: The paper discusses the theme of male and female corporeality in Kharms''s work. Physical motifs are of great signficance, especially the (top of the) head and the heels as extremes, the “boundaries of the body”. These are symbolically linked with life and death, with rebirth and resurrection, in particular in connection with the motifs of physical deformation and dismemberment in Kharms''s work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]