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150.000.000
Composto tra il 1919 e il 1920, questo poema del futurista russo Majakovskij è una dedica al proletariato, un racconto per metafore di un'utopistica rivoluzione comunista in atto su scala internazionale. Venne pubblicato per la prima volta su una rivista e poi in edizione a sé stante nel 1921, in forma integrale e anonima, perché - scrisse Majakovskij nella sua autobiografia - «tutti potessero aggiungere cose e migliorarlo. Nessuno l'ha fatto, tutti sapevano comunque il nome dell'autore». Più avanti, infatti, uscirà firmato.
145 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Vladimir Mayakovsky
534 books647 followersVladimir 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 1, 2017
Çeviri yetersiz kalmış. Google Translate'den dönüştürülmüş misali cümleler akıcılığa ket vurmuş.
December 5, 2018
I’ve picked this poem to give myself an introduction to Mayakovsky and my choice has fallen on this particular one because the volume of his collected poetry that I own does not include this one. The poem was first published in 1921 in the period when Mayakovsky was still enchanted with Russian revolution and felt rather jubilant about its global consequences. The poem narrates the antagonism between Russian proletariat embodied in a vaguely stereotypical figure, Ivan, and the contemporary president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson representing an opposing force to the global communist revolution, namely capitalistic imperialism. In a way it feels prescient in its prediction of the face-off the two major superpowers will be embroiled into during most of the 20th century. Throughout his life Mayakovsky has gone through several ideological and artistic phases, so I wouldn't consider the themes he touches upon in this poem as indicatory of all his work. Several other Russian Silver Age poets have disavowed their allegiance to the communist state later in their careers, one of whom was Blok whose poem ‘12’ may have been an influence on Mayakovsky’s ‘150 000 000’.
In regards to composition, I enjoyed the experiments with form, which I surely expected to encounter going into Mayakovsky’s poetry, as he is well-known as staple representative of the Russian futurist movement, but also as an anti-christ among lovers a more romantic and lean poetry. The broken metres that still somehow work, the freshly-sounding acute metaphors, the so melodious alliteration, all of these are offset by a questionable subject of the poem as well as messy and, as Lenin himself suggested when reviewing the poem, too vulgar imagery and personages, who seem like caricatures, which unfortunately they aren't.
Like Ukrainian and Italian futurists, Mayakovsky is more keen on dislodging the conventions of Russian literature, culture and society, on severing the ties with the past in order to build a radically new future. For Mayakovsky the art of poetry takes a new role, it becomes a craft with a very specific function of instilling belief into public and guiding it towards progress and prosperity, warding off any of the malign influences on its way. Unlike Khlebnikov he did not believe in excavating obscure influences to build a future from them.
To sum up, the positive aspects of ‘150 000 000’ solidified my interest in delving into the whole range of his oeuvres. However, the true mystery about this poem for me is how Mayakovsky managed to ruin the good impression I’ve had of this poem’s technical mastery with such a poor choice of the main subject.
In regards to composition, I enjoyed the experiments with form, which I surely expected to encounter going into Mayakovsky’s poetry, as he is well-known as staple representative of the Russian futurist movement, but also as an anti-christ among lovers a more romantic and lean poetry. The broken metres that still somehow work, the freshly-sounding acute metaphors, the so melodious alliteration, all of these are offset by a questionable subject of the poem as well as messy and, as Lenin himself suggested when reviewing the poem, too vulgar imagery and personages, who seem like caricatures, which unfortunately they aren't.
Like Ukrainian and Italian futurists, Mayakovsky is more keen on dislodging the conventions of Russian literature, culture and society, on severing the ties with the past in order to build a radically new future. For Mayakovsky the art of poetry takes a new role, it becomes a craft with a very specific function of instilling belief into public and guiding it towards progress and prosperity, warding off any of the malign influences on its way. Unlike Khlebnikov he did not believe in excavating obscure influences to build a future from them.
To sum up, the positive aspects of ‘150 000 000’ solidified my interest in delving into the whole range of his oeuvres. However, the true mystery about this poem for me is how Mayakovsky managed to ruin the good impression I’ve had of this poem’s technical mastery with such a poor choice of the main subject.
December 5, 2018
Uzun bir savaştan sonrasını anlatıyor sanki, savaştan sonra sancılar. Upuzun bir şiiri okumak sıradışıydı. Tercüme hatasından ötürü Mayakovski’nin dilini tanıyamadım.
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February 10, 2022"Gün
bögle
ateşe dayandı
Döküldü yakıcı sıcak kışın sessizliğinde
Rüzgarlar dişledi boraları
sapladı hırsla belleyerek havayı." (s.43)
Tundralardan, çamur ve çimenler arasından; bir trende seyahat ediyormuşum gibi hissettirdi... Hızla, uçsuz bucaksız vadilere...
bögle
ateşe dayandı
Döküldü yakıcı sıcak kışın sessizliğinde
Rüzgarlar dişledi boraları
sapladı hırsla belleyerek havayı." (s.43)
Tundralardan, çamur ve çimenler arasından; bir trende seyahat ediyormuşum gibi hissettirdi... Hızla, uçsuz bucaksız vadilere...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews