Mayakovsky Maximum Access

by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Jenny Wade (Translator)

Futurist, hooligan, revolutionary, propagandist, lover, clown, martyr, hero—the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was the powerhouse and rock star of Russia’s Silver Age. This bilingual edition provides “maximum access” to his best known poems, and This is undiluted Mayakovsky, in the highest obtainable proof for non-native speakers. “Readers familiar with Mayakovsky’s verse in Russian will enjoy the poetic wit and insight of Jenny Wade’s translations, which also shed light on some of the verbal and syntactic riddles of the those seeking to grasp the Mayakovsky phenomenon in English can rely on the supreme accuracy of Wade’s renderings, and on her overall treatment of her subject, full of artistic admiration and human empathy—yet also distinguished by a critical distance necessary for any real understanding.” —Anna Muza, Senior Lecturer, Slavic Languages and Literatures, UC Berkeley “’To all of you…I raise my skull, filled with poetry…’ In Jenny Wade’s masterful translation, with palpable notes, Mayakovsky Maximum Access, what we have is, not only a sensitive, lyrical, down-to-earth reading of a poet who frequented rhyme in his own lyrical, at times, harsh and raw work, but also continual “instructions” on how to enter into this master poet/playwright’s work. The book is bilingual and thus open to further interpretation for those who frequent both languages. Pick up this book & fill your skull.” —steve dalachinsky, author of The Final Nite “The Russian poet, Mayakovsky, is central to his country’s literary history. Jenny Wade’s translations of his marvelous, yet down to earth, poems are a marvel in themselves. This is an important book—highly recommended!” —Ron Kolm, author of Night Shift “Jenny Wade has superbly captured the plangent Whitmanesque rhythms of Mayakovsky, written on the wing, on the fly, on the loose, ‘a cloud in trousers.’ The clarity of Wade’s supple translation and explanatory footnotes make this a timely addition to the canon of poetic voices that now, more than ever, need to be heard.” —Max Blagg, author of Slow Dazzle

Genres: Poetry

240 pages, Hardcover

Published August 5, 2018

About the author

Vladimir Mayakovsky (Владимир Владимирович Маяковский) was born the last of three children in Baghdati, Russian Empire (now in Georgia) where his father worked as a forest ranger. His father was of Ukrainian Cossack descent and his mother was of Ukrainian descent. Although Mayakovsky spoke Georgian at school and with friends, his family spoke primarily Russian at home. At the age of 14 Mayakovsky took part in socialist demonstrations at the town of Kutaisi, where he attended the local grammar school. After the sudden and premature death of his father in 1906, the family — Mayakovsky, his mother, and his two sisters — moved to Moscow, where he attended School No. 5.

In Moscow, Mayakovsky developed a passion for Marxist literature and took part in numerous activities of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party; he was to later become an RSDLP (Bolshevik) member. In 1908, he was dismissed from the grammar school because his mother was no longer able to afford the tuition fees.

Around this time, Mayakovsky was imprisoned on three occasions for subversive political activities but, being underage, he avoided transportation. During a period of solitary confinement in Butyrka prison in 1909, he began to write poetry, but his poems were confiscated. On his release from prison, he continued working within the socialist movement, and in 1911 he joined the Moscow Art School where he became acquainted with members of the Russian Futurist movement. He became a leading spokesman for the group Gileas (Гилея), and a close friend of David Burlyuk, whom he saw as his mentor.

The 1912 Futurist publication A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (Пощёчина общественному вкусу) contained Mayakovsky's first published poems: Night (Ночь) and Morning (Утро). Because of their political activities, Burlyuk and Mayakovsky were expelled from the Moscow Art School in 1914.
His work continued in the Futurist vein until 1914. His artistic development then shifted increasingly in the direction of narrative and it was this work, published during the period immediately preceding the Russian Revolution, which was to establish his reputation as a poet in Russia and abroad.

Mayakovsky was rejected as a volunteer at the beginning of WWI, and during 1915-1917 worked at the Petrograd Military Automobile School as a draftsman. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Mayakovsky was in Smolny, Petrograd. There he witnessed the October Revolution.

After moving back to Moscow, Mayakovsky worked for the Russian State Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) creating — both graphic and text — satirical Agitprop posters. In 1919, he published his first collection of poems Collected Works 1909-1919 (Все сочиненное Владимиром Маяковским). In the cultural climate of the early Soviet Union, his popularity grew rapidly. As one of the few Soviet writers who were allowed to travel freely, his voyages to Latvia, Britain, Germany, the United States, Mexico and Cuba influenced works like My Discovery of America (Мое открытие Америки, 1925). He also travelled extensively throughout the Soviet Union.

The relevance of Mayakovsky's influence cannot be limited to Soviet poetry. While for years he was considered the Soviet poet par excellence, he also changed the perceptions of poetry in wider 20th century culture. His political activism as a propagandistic agitator was rarely understood and often looked upon unfavourably by contemporaries, even close friends like Boris Pasternak. Near the end of the 1920s, Mayakovsky became increasingly disillusioned with the course the Soviet Union was taking under Joseph Stalin: his satirical plays The Bedbug (Клоп, 1929) and The Bathhouse (Баня, 1930), which deal with the Soviet philistinism and bureaucracy, illustrate this development.

On the evening of April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky shot himself.

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayakovsky lived a complicated life which he ended by suicide. Starting out as one of the Russian bohemians, he became a kind of poetric bureaucratic, churning out celebratory and inspirational poems for Stalin's Soviet Union. He found ways to negotiate that and sneak strong somewhat critical poems through but it's clear that he wasn't a good fit. Writing primarily in short lines with a vernacular humor, Mayavovsky's at his best as a love poet, chronicling his obsessive and distinctly Bohemian relationships.

The translations by Jenny Wade, from what as a non-Russian reader I can tell, are excellent. No clunkiness and when there are oddities of syntax and diction, the explanatory notes let you know why.

Favorite poems are the fascinating suite "Backbone-flute" and the quite wonderful report on the ostensibly "proletarian" poet's rapturous humor response to capitalist Manhattn in "Broadway."

[Nick Soulsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sensitively handled translation and approach to a poet's work can make all the difference in terms of feel, energy, vibracy - LIFE! Jenny Wade does a great job here: the introduction is brief and provides an overview of Mayakovsky's life for the novice (like me), then each poem is presented with the original Russian on the opposing page, and after each poem her detailed notes provide context, describe her own debates, show alternatives that could have been substituted in cases where a word might be debated. At the core of it, the poems themselves, a broad scope, clear evolution in style and form, a definite bad boy desire visible, the encroachment of wider events, a life well lived.

[Patrick O'Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Wade’s Maykovsky Maximum Access is literally my sole introduction to Mayakovsky’s poetry. Until now, armed with such little knowledge of Russian literature, I have never felt comfortable venturing into this unknown territory. Yet Wade’s bilingual edition (that includes the Russian stress marks – how cool is that?!) along with her commentaries and intimate knowledge allowed me an immediate understanding of the translation that I found not only helpful but made Mayakovsky’s work that much more accessible to a newbie like me. Excellent work – buy and read this book today!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful publication.

[Alexa Doran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I *adore* the setup of this collection!!! I wish all translations offered such tender insight into the poems and the poet. The work itself is bold and bizarrely humorous. Bring diss tracks back to poetry!