Alexander Pushkin is to Russian literature what Shakespeare is to English & to this day probably read & loved even more by his people. This collection includes thirty famous Russian lyric poems & parallel English verse translations. The selections span eight great Russian poets from late eighteenth to mid-twentieth century. The works by Pushkin include two subversively witty poems that nearly cost him his life, & two gripping, darker poems from his later years. Pushkin's older contemporary, Ivan Krylov, & the younger Romantic poet Mikhail Lermontov are both represented here too, with a poem from each. These are followed by poems by Nikolai Nekrasov. The Silver Age of Russian Literature shows here in six poems by Alexander Blok & many by Fyodor Sologub, who has been compared to Poe & Verlaine for the haunting music of his verse. The book concludes with selections from Mandelshtam & Yesenin.

One's understanding of the poems & the poets is enhanced by the translator's Introduction & notes. "Vassar Smith's translation reads like fine English poetry while conveying the music & the meaning of the original language."--Basil Meyerhold. To order: contact Zapizdat Publications, P.O. Box 326, Palo Alto, CA 94302.