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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.714408
EAN: 9780939010561
ISBN: 0939010569
Label: Zephyr Press
Manufacturer: Zephyr Press
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 444
Publication Date: 2000-03-01
Publisher: Zephyr Press
Studio: Zephyr Press

In the Grip of Strange Thoughts: Russian Poetry in a New Era is a Russian and English bilingual edition of thirty-two contemporary poets writing amidst the upheaval of the Russian 1990s. The collection conveys a sense of the profound freedom and energy of a unique moment in Russian history, as well as the diversity of experience in the years before and since. Edited by poet and translator J. Kates and with a foreword by poet Mikhail Aizenberg, the collection includes poems written long before 1990 but which could not be published, and those of more recent vintage. These thirty-two poets represent a phenomenal range of styles and perspectives. Beginning with the poet and popular songwriter Bulat Okudzhava, who started accompanying his poems on his guitar in the 1950s, the anthology includes poets whose work is deeply rooted in established conventions, avant gardists experimenting with new forms, and adherents of Russian free verse.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Dull
Review: Perhaps I was expecting too much given the rich tradition of Russian poetry. But the poets in this anthology seem to have been selected for their dissident credentials more than the quality of their poetry, which is uninspiring and flat.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A beautifully translated book of contemporary Russian poets'
Review: Zephyr Press, which gave us the superb Complete Poetry of Anna Achmatova, offers us a comprehensive feast of contemporary Russian poetry, with a fascinating introduction. The poetry is bittersweet, reflecting and expressing the soul of a nation changing radically from decade to decade. Many thanks to this hard-working, indefatigable small press for continuing to offer us these books.

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