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by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky was one of the towering literary figures of pre- and post-revolutionary Russia, speaking as much to the working man (he often employed the rough talk of the streets and revolutionary rhetoric in his poetry) as to other poets (his creative fascination with sound and form, linguistic metamorphosis and variation made him a sort of 'poet's poet', the doyen, if not the envy, of his contemporaries, Pasternak among them). His poetry, influenced by Whitman and Verhaeren and strangely akin to modern rock poetry in its erotic thrust, bluesy complaints and cries of pain, not to mention its sardonic humour, is at once aggressive, mocking and tender, and often fantastic or grotesque. Pro Eto - That's What is a long love poem detailing the pain and suffering inflicted on the poet by his lover and her final rejection of him. But as well as being an agonising parable of separation and betrayal, it is also a political work, highly critical of Lenin's reforms of Soviet Socialism. The publication of That's What is something of a landmark for not only is this the first time that this seminal work has appeared in its entirety in translation, but it is illustrated with the 11 inspired photomontages that Alexander Rodchenko designed to interleave and illuminate the text, illustrations which inaugurate a world of new possibilities in combining verbal and visual forms of expression and which are reproduced in colour (as originally conceived) for the first time.

Genres: Poetry, Russia, Russian Literature

Tankobon Softcover

First published January 1, 1923

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

[Dimitris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Δεν θα προσποιηθώ καν πως κατάλαβα ή πως είμαι άξιος να γράψω κριτική για αυτή την θρυλική ποιητική συλλογή του αρχηγού του ρωσσικού Φουτουρισμού. Η μαγεία που με διακατείχε ενόσω τη διάβαζα θα πρέπει να αρκέσει προς το παρόν.
Υπέροχη μετάφραση και έκδοση, βασισμένη αισθητικά στην πρώτη Σοβιετική έκδοση, αγάπησα το μεγάλο μέγεθος του τόμου και το εξώφυλλο με το σαγρέ χαρτί.

[حسن · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Literary critics has considered Akhmatova as "the whispering" of the Russian poetry, Mayakovsky on the other hand, well, could be considered as its loudest scream.

I enjoyed reading Pro Eto as much as I have enjoyed his other poems and plays “Cloud in Trousers” and “the Bedbug”. I know that it isn't "scientific" to compare an Avant-guardist poet to the great soviet writer predecessor Maxim Gorky, father of the Social Realism literature, neither to Zola who, by the way, is still my favourite among the writers adept of this intellectual movement (Why? Because per se I consider "Germinal" as the ultimate masterpiece) but personally, Post-structuralist and Deconstructionist theoretical analyzes of his texts aside (BORING), I still think that Mayakovsky's plays are the most powerful and humanist descriptions and expressions of the post-revolution Russian society.
His sensitive inner voice is very communicative. With his synesthetic sensibility, his poem delivers distilled sensations and impressions within a multi-sensorial fluid language ..

Pro Eto, "That's What" in English, isn't a play, but the title of a very long autobiographical poem, almost 120 pages. The Arc Publications has illustrated its edition with 10 amazing Artistic surreal photo-montages by the Russian painter and photographer Alexander Rodchenko (most of his works are housed at Moma NewYork). If you want to please your eyes :
https://www.google.com.lb/search?q=ro...

Pro Eto is composed of series of proses about his pain and misery endured after his separation with Lili. Mayakovsky couldn't handle Lili's rejection and he has killed himself few years later with a bullet in the head, leaving in a drawer a touching suicide note:
“The love boat has crashed against the everyday. You and I Lili, we are quits.. And there is no use listing mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”

Pro Eto isn't only a love poem, but also a powerful and sarcastic text, a poetical and political manifesto a la Mayakovsky, that expresses his disappointments and delusions towards the post October's revolution reforms.

[Griffin Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carries the narrative, but I really want a good free verse translation of this long poem—all of the translations I've read (around three) are really concerned with maintaining rhyme (which comes off stilted) at the cost of tamping down the wild imagery and sheer audacity of the language. This one in particular is actually worse than the only two other translations I've been able to find in Mayakovsky and Vladimir Mayakovsky Selected Works: Volume 2 - Longer Poems, which though rhyming have beautiful moments and innovation that moves you. This translation, on the other hand, is actually harder to understand, muddled, and seems more like a foggy rendering of what I can discern as the original text (which I can only ascertain through the reading of multiple translations as I don't read or speak Russian). Jack Hirschman, however, did an excellent translation of the first few stanzas in his Electric Iron, but didn't get in for the long haul. It is admittedly a very long poem, but with the great collage art by Alexander Rodchenko accompanying it, you'd think it'd find a home along with Mayakovsky's hits like "A Cloud in Trousers" and "The Backbone Flute" in being translated into many styles and to many tastes. Guess I'll keep waiting.

[Petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ovo je bio malo preveliki zalogaj za čitanje na ruskom, jer avangarda voli nemoguće fraze i nove riječi. S druge strane, ritam poeme me totalno uvukao u cijelu priču pa mi je drago.
O čemu se ovdje radi? Iskreno, nemam pojma. Majakovski je istovremeno medvjed koji na svom jastuku plovi po rijeci Nevi, promatrač s mosta (koji je ujedno 7 godina mlađi Majakovski) i Isus Krist Spasitelj, koji za naše grijehe i plače i plaća. Kao pravi tribun revolucije vrišti u vjetar i oslovljava narod, svoju voljenu, koja ga je ostavila, susjede i obitelj (‘Ljubav ste zamijenili čajem!’). Podsjeća na to da je ljubav upravo ta vječna kozmična sila koja održava svijet i pobjeđuje. Podsjeća ljude da se izvuku iz okova ropstva starog svijeta (prije revolucije). Istovremeno kritizira i voli grad?

Da se razumijemo, ova poema je dugačka, ali puno toga mi je preletilo preko glave, stvarno nisam sve razumjela. Treba vidjeti što Flaker ima za reći o ovome.

[Julie Torngaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg ændrer måske dette til 5 stjerner, måske til 1 stjerne. Det afhænger pinligt meget af resultatet af min eksamen. Første gennemlæsning var en forvirret fornøjelse.

Update: fuck det. Majakovskij ily.

Update Update: fik 12. Majakovskij og jeg er soulmates.

[Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vi kastas fram och tillbaka - än på en flod över Neva, än i Paris eller Kremls kupoler. Ett bildspråk som får en att skaka. Och avslutningen när Majakovskij flyger över världen med Stora Björn och predikar om kärleken är helt otrolig. Dessutom helt fantastiska kollage, samt världens bästa omslag och titel. Kommer behöva läsa igenom denna många gånger till.

[Alyona · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pro Eto" by Vladimir Mayakovsky is an extraordinary collection of poems that captivates readers with its bold and innovative style. Mayakovsky's works convey a sense of rebellion and disillusionment that resonate with readers today, even decades after they were written. His ability to use words to express complex emotions is unparalleled, and this collection is a testament to his talent. The poems in "Pro Eto" are poignant, thought-provoking, and powerful. A must-read for anyone who appreciates great poetry.

[Apina_lukee_kirjoja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant. I don't understand how Mayakovsky is able to keep the momentum going in such a long poem without it getting tedious, but he does. Good work from the translators.

Also loved that the edition included the Russian text. Not that I understood much of it, but got a feel for the words and sounds.

[Sonya Filippova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 1 and 3 are intense and emotional, combined with beautiful visualisations. Could really feel and sympathise with the authors pain/desperation. Part 2 was dragged out and unintelligible (maybe because I forgot some Russian ;P). The translation seemed to water down the poem at moments when I turned to it. I would've preferred a direct translation.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently, if your name ends in kowski or kovsky I really love your poems

[Fanny ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stjärnor tror jag. stort pluspoäng för efterordet.

[Matt Morris]

Read my review of this & other books at https://miscmss.blogspot.com/2021/07/...

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really wish i could tell you what was going on, but overall a pretty sick read tbh

[Castles · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant, sharp, original, brave. it's been a long time since I've read a poetry book with this quality and value.

[Jógvan Helge · Rating 4 out of 5]

se på meg, jeg er en isbjørn