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An Anthology of Contemporary Russian Women Poets
Based on an exhaustive review of Russian poetry, An Anthology of Contemporary Russian Women Poets is the first comprehensive collection of its kind. Editors Valentina Polukhina and Daniel Weissbort read some one thousand collections and manuscripts and thoroughly surveyed the vibrant Russian literary Internet, gathering works by women poets from Moscow to Vladivostok, those living abroad, and those domiciled in former republics of the Soviet Union. The resulting anthology presents English translations of works by more than eighty poets. Focusing on the middle generation, with major figures such as Olga Sedakova, Svetlana Kekova, Vera Pavlova, and Tatyana Shcherbina, the collection also includes work by the youngest generation--born after 1970 and not yet known outside of Russia--as well as senior poets such as Bella Akhmadulina and Natalya Gorbanevskaya. Translators include such poets as Elaine Feinstein, Ruth Fainlight, Carol Rumens, and Daniel Weissbort as well as Russianists and scholars Peter France, Catriona Kelly, Robert Reid, and Stephanie Sandler. A significant and extensive bibliography lists the major works of prominent Russian women poets. A preface by Stephanie Sandler, a concluding note by Dmitry Kuzmin on the online Vavilon project, a postface by Elena Fanailova, and biographical notes on the poets and translators complete the anthology, which is sure to be of great interest to students and scholars of Russian literature.
292 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 22, 2020
Till now
I’ve not been able to imagine
what it’s like to long for water
in a desert,
and striving
to make flour out of the sands.
Evidently, it’s worth surviving
so as to experience something other than
writing.
— Inna Kulishova (tr, Daniel Weissbort)
I’ve not been able to imagine
what it’s like to long for water
in a desert,
and striving
to make flour out of the sands.
Evidently, it’s worth surviving
so as to experience something other than
writing.
— Inna Kulishova (tr, Daniel Weissbort)
February 18, 2019
"I see
your hands in my nightmares,
they bring me unbearable pain …
and yet they are just wiping the dust
from the pale looking-glass of my soul."
-- Ekaterina Vlasova, “I see”
"A little sympathy
for the poor birds,
whose wings have grown heavy with snow.
A little compassion
for my own inner I,
who cannot attain this luxury—
wings heavy with snow …"
-- Elena Vasileva, “A little sympathy”
"I used to be your echo
I used to be a doe for your shoulders
A frequent reason for your eye
An approaching shore for your lake of tears
A white lotus in one hundred vases
You were given to me
As the absolute answer
To the only question
I had to ask"
--Natalya Starodubtseva, from I used to be your echo …”
"My soul is like a kite
and the string is in your hands.
It is wild as the wind and disobedient
and the string is in your hands."
-- Olga Sulchinskaya, from “The Kite”
"Rhyme is a woman, trying on clothes,
plaiting a rose into her hair.
She splashes in blood, like a naiad,
and surfaces, when not asked to."
-- Tatyana Voltskaya, from “ Rhyme is a woman, trying on clothes …”
"Create me a world
of transparent-green fibers,
of dark-snowy skies,
and opal-smoky heights;
I will depart forever,
will slip between walls, between windows
into that narrow opening,
that house, behind which is sunrise."
-- Elena Vasileva, “Create me a world”
your hands in my nightmares,
they bring me unbearable pain …
and yet they are just wiping the dust
from the pale looking-glass of my soul."
-- Ekaterina Vlasova, “I see”
"A little sympathy
for the poor birds,
whose wings have grown heavy with snow.
A little compassion
for my own inner I,
who cannot attain this luxury—
wings heavy with snow …"
-- Elena Vasileva, “A little sympathy”
"I used to be your echo
I used to be a doe for your shoulders
A frequent reason for your eye
An approaching shore for your lake of tears
A white lotus in one hundred vases
You were given to me
As the absolute answer
To the only question
I had to ask"
--Natalya Starodubtseva, from I used to be your echo …”
"My soul is like a kite
and the string is in your hands.
It is wild as the wind and disobedient
and the string is in your hands."
-- Olga Sulchinskaya, from “The Kite”
"Rhyme is a woman, trying on clothes,
plaiting a rose into her hair.
She splashes in blood, like a naiad,
and surfaces, when not asked to."
-- Tatyana Voltskaya, from “ Rhyme is a woman, trying on clothes …”
"Create me a world
of transparent-green fibers,
of dark-snowy skies,
and opal-smoky heights;
I will depart forever,
will slip between walls, between windows
into that narrow opening,
that house, behind which is sunrise."
-- Elena Vasileva, “Create me a world”
December 20, 2009
Poems by Anna Glazova, Inga Kuznetsova, Yelena Kostyleva, Raisa Moroz, Yelena Vasilyeva in my translation inside.
September 25, 2010
Orchin harasho.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews