Synopses & Reviews
This collection of essays thrusts Brodsky--heretofore known more for his poetry and translations--into the forefront of the "Third Wave" of Russian emigre writers. His insights into the works of Dostoyevsky, Mandelstam, Platonov, as well as non-Russian poets Auden, Cavafy and Montale are brilliant. While the Western popularity of many other Third Wavers has been stunted by their inability to write in English, Brodsky consumed the language to attain a "closer proximity" to poets such as Auden. The book, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, opens and closes with revealing autobiographical essay.
Joseph Brodsky (1940-96) came to the United States in 1972, an involuntary exile from the Soviet Union. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 and served as Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991 and 1992.
This is the masterful collection of essays that propelled Brodskyheretofore known more for his poetry and translations than for his literary criticisminto the forefront of the "Third Wave" of Russian emigre writers. His insights into the works of Dostoyevsky, Mandelstam, and Platonov, as well as non-Russian poets Auden, Cavafy, and Montale, are as brilliant as they are compelling. While the Western popularity of many other Third Wavers has been stunted by their inability to write in English, Brodsky, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987, consumed this language to attain a "closer proximity" to poets such as Auden. Less Than One, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, also opens and closes with revealing autobiographical essays.
"Evinces a supple, witty mastery of the English language . . . Provides deeply
illuminating insights into the Russian literary tradition, political climate, and modern poetry and poetics."Library Journal
Review
"[E]vinces a supple, witty mastery of the English language...[P]rovides deeply illuminating insights into the Russian literary tradition, political climate, and modern poetry and poetics." --
Library Journal
Synopsis
This collection of essays thrusts Brodsky--heretofore known more for his poetry and translations--into the forefront of the "Third Wave" of Russian emigre writers. His insights into the works of Dostoyevsky, Mandelstam, Platonov, as well as non-Russian poets Auden, Cavafy and Montale are brilliant. While the Western popularity of many other Third Wavers has been stunted by their inability to write in English, Brodsky consumed the language to attain a "closer proximity" to poets such as Auden. The book, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, opens and closes with revealing autobiographical essay.
About the Author
Joseph Brodsky (1940-96) came to the United States in 1972, an involuntary exile from the Soviet Union. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 and served as Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991 and 1992.