Description
Book SynopsisThese poems are written from across Lev Loseff's life, contemplating his native Russia from both a literal and a figurative distance, while at the same time casting a sometimes jaundiced eye on the alien culture of America in which he spent the final years of his life. Loseff's poetry excels in complex imagery, rich literary allusion, and is abundant in formal experiment. Whether absorbed by the world of literature (particularly his fellow poets) or relating real-life experiences, Loseff conjures up a restless and frequently disturbing universe in this unusual collection. "His poetry is full of intellectual high-wire acts. Every poem is like a circus turn, under the big top and without a net. In poetry like this there is nothing either natural or unnatural, but only past-mastery." Alexandr Genis
Trade Review"Smith's translations are a labour of love and skill, nowhere better seen than in the palindromic "Toilette" or the many instances of terza rima. Tonally and emotionally, they are perfectly pitched. Such formal and verbal precision reminds us, as does Smith himself in a smartly concise preface, that translation estranges us from the original. Linguistic and prosodic fidelity of the most scrupulous kind are estimable virtues, but the forms of poetry are also the forms of thought and emotion. Poets in the English and American traditions would hear their own thoughts and emotions according to a different music and different traditions. To read Lev Loseff in these brilliant translations is to come as close as possible to hearing Russian poetry in the English language, and that is no mean feat." Andrew Kahn, TLS May 2013
Table of ContentsSeries Editor's note / 9 Translator's preface / 10 Introduction / 16 At the clinic / 25 The Talking Parrot The Flat / 27 An Excursion / 27 Kazan, July 1957 / 29 School No. 1 / 31 'Who Says Sheep are Different from Goats?' / 31 Joseph in 1965 / 33 Russian Depression / 35 In the Empty Room / 37 As I Said The Blood washed off - ' / 39 The New Abode / 39 Grounded Again / 43 In Memory of a Polar Explorer / 43 The See-through House / 45 The Funeral Parlour's abuzz / 45 S. D. / 47 Out of Bunin / 49 Fragment / 49 The Pier that disappeared / 51 'As you get on - ' / 53 'This city's alive, - ' / 55 Right Now / 55 June 1972 / 59 Dostoevsky's Handwriting / 61 The Reformer / 61 Afterword Afterword / 65 In Memory of Mikhail Krasilnikov / 79 'Me and the Old Lady' / 81 Heartbeat / 83 New Information concerning Carl and Clara Not / 83 Untitled / 85 Old Testament Autumn / 87 For O's Scrapbook / 87 Forgotten Villages / 89 Gentrification / 91 The Parisian Note / 93 Imitation / 95 Only Just / 95 Privy Councillor April 1950 / 101 Toilette / 101 Ledger Entry / 103 'December Dreams come 'in a Crazy Rush' / 105 Awakened by an Unexpected Silence' / 107 The Miraculous Raid Pronouns / 109 The Tram / 111 'I'm living in the States from boredom' / 113 'The splendid thing about these dreams' / 115 'Having traversed half my three score and ten' / 117 Sonnet / 121 The Extended Day - / 123 Grounded / 137 The Last Romance / 141 ' "And this one here is basil", he declared' / 143 Author's & Translator's Notes / 144 Biographical Notes / 151
