Selected Poems 1954-1994

by Gennady Aygi, Peter France (Introduction)

Poetry, translated from the Russian by Peter France. Jacques Roubaud calls Gennady Aygi "The most original voice in contemporary Russian poetry, and one of the most unusual voices in the world" (Times Literary Supplement). "with knowledge of white /a man far off / over whiteness of snow / as with an invisible banner" ("Birthday Image", for the centerary of K. S. Malevich). A potent underground presence for three decades, Aygi, born in the Chuvash Autonomous Republic in 1934, was encouraged by Pasternak to write in Russian in the late 1950s, since when he has lived and worked, often precariously, in Moscow.

Genres: Poetry

238 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 1997

About the author

Gennady Nikolaevich Aygi (Russian: Геннадий Николаевич Айги, Chuvash: Геннадий Николаевич Айхи; 21 August 1934 - 21 February 2006, Moscow) was a Chuvash poet and a translator. His poetry is written both in Chuvash and in Russian. Aygi is widely considered to be one of the great avant-garde poets from the former Soviet Union. He was born in Chuvashia, then a Soviet Republic, and moved to Moscow in 1953 to study at the Literary Institute. Though Aygi's poetry was not published in the Soviet Union until the 1980s, his work was widely translated and he received numerous honors, including multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize.

Reviews

[EIJANDOLUM]

And when I stop believing in myself
let memory of veins
make me firm again.

To the abyss-
that knows no measure.

Pain from love - continuing
while life continues!

And such pain is so familiar
that I know its colour!
[...] it is the song of the earth!

The soul shines
golden.