Author: Osip MandelʹshtamPublisher: Harvill Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 746
Book Description
"Osip Mandelstam was one of the major Russian poets of the twentieth century. His first works were published before the October Revolution and, after the Bolsheviks came to power, although his reputation was high, he was never fully in accord with the new literary establishment. He was arrested in 1934 after reciting a poem denouncing Stalin and began the harrowing journey to his death, recorded so movingly in his widow's memoirs Hope Against Hope and Hope Abandoned. Mandelstam, as well as being a poet, was a brilliant critic and prose-writer and this collection of autobiographical essays, reviews and personal reflections embodies many of the same themes as his poetry the nature of history, the continuity and yet fragility of cultural traditions, and the value of poetry itself. It is an essential volume for all admirers of Russian literature in general and the poetry of Mandelstam in particular.
