Review (PDF) Field-Russia (New Directions Paperbook)
The central work by the world-famous Chuvashian who "writes with an imagistic compression an real time candor that is utterly unique" (Publishers Weekly).Lifelong Aygi translator and friend Peter France wrote in The Guardian: "Aygi wrote from a deep awareness of the losses and destructions of the 20th century." Field-Russia is a book of poems arranged shortly before Aygi's death, which in his view occupied a central place in his work. The collection opens with an informal conversation about poetry, and is followed by a series of little lyric "books"—Field-Russia, Time of the Ravines, and Final Departure—that form a part of Aygi's "life-book." Like Ahkmatova and Celan before him, Aygi has left us with these most necessary words to dwell in—a quiet, spiritual poetry in a time of uprootedness and despair.
Series: New Directions Paperbook
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: New Directions (October 15, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811217213
ISBN-13: 978-0811217217
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,755,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #203 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Russian #5258 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European
CHILD-AND-ROSE is a selection of the verse of Gennady Aigi translated by Peter France. Aigi (1934-2006) was one of the major writers of the Soviet avant-garde, writing Russian-language verse of powerful but somehow alien insight greatly inspired by his Chuvash heritage. Among Aigi's output, which ranges from meditations on the horror of Soviet authority to reminisces of Chuvash traditional culture, a few books were dedicated mainly to themes of childhood and innocence. France has collected here "Veronica's Book", "Sleep-and-Poetry", "Before and After the Book", "Silvia's World" and "Poetry-As-Silence", all written between 1972 and 2002.Bei Dao has contributed a preface expressing his own appreciation of Aigi, showing that in spite of Aigi's particular background he wrote poetry that is meaningful to readers internationally. Peter France's foreword contains a brief biography of Aigi and then explains the difficulty of translating Aigi by commenting on his poem "Krug" and France's English rendering "The Circle". The poems then follow. It is a real pity that this edition does not contain the original Russian alongside the English translation, as in the earlier SELECTED POEMS. Nonetheless, New Directions has printed and bound the book beautifully, with a lovely cover design and a portrait of Aigi by Gennadii Gogoliuk."Veronica's Book" was written in the few years after the birth of his first daughter in 1983, and the poems are a celebration of nascent femininity, with glimpses back to the life of Aigi's mother and more remote ancestors.
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