The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of Pi

by Eugene Ostashevsky

An original collection from one of the most active poets in contemporary literature.

Winner of the 2019 International Poetry Prize from the City of Münster

The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of Pi is a poem-novel about the relationship between a pirate and a parrot who, after capturing a certain quantity of prizes, are shipwrecked on a deserted island, where they proceed to discuss whether they would have been able to communicate with people indigenous to the island, had there been any. Characterized by multilingual punning, humor puerile and set-theoretical, philosophical irony and narrative handicaps, Eugene Ostashevsky’s new large-scale project draws on sources as various as early modern texts about pirates and animal intelligence, old-school hip-hop, and game theory to pursue the themes of emigration, incomprehension, untranslatability, and the otherness of others.

Genres: Poetry, Russia

144 pages, Paperback

Published March 14, 2017

About the author

Eugene Ostashevsky is a Russian-American writer, poet, translator and professor at New York University. Ostashevsky was born in Leningrad and then immigrated with his parents to the United States when he was 11 years old where they settled in New York City.

Ostashevsky has a PhD from Stanford University.

His poetry collections, The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of Pi and Feeling Sonnets, are published in the NYRB Poets series.

He selected and translated the poems in Alexander Vvedensky's An Invitation for Me to Think, also in the NYRB Poets series, and translated The Fire Horse: Children's Poems by Mayakovsky, Mandelstam, and Kharms, published in the NYRB Kids series.

Reviews

[Neil Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calvin & Hobbes & a wagon, please meet Pirate & Parrot & an island.

[Jeffrey Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

"All we do is venture." A pirate and his parrot carry on in a diacritical dialectic in which language avalanches. These two salty sophists ply their craft across the main in a sophisticatedly dashing pastiche of associations, aspirations and analyses. Ahoy!

[armghan ahmad · Rating 5 out of 5]

there is no other way to put it: this is an absolute delight to read. whimsical, intelligent, packed with wit & profundity, Ostashevsky has written an immediate classic.

one of the funniest books (poems?) i’ve ever read. and in such a novel format

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right, parts of this goes right over my head - especially the parts not in latin letters :-p (hooray for google translate and copy/paste).
But the wordplay is fun ; This conversation is N.L.A. No Latin Allowed. I'm a pirate. Speak to me about something this side of my intelletctual horizons. Like natives and I love the concept Howl-wovel

[Sheherazahde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This needs to be read aloud. Even if you are alone.
Someone sent me this book. I don't know who. There was no note.
But whoever it was knows what I like.
This epic poem is about language and meaning.
The way Ostashevsky plays with words made me laugh.
Parts of the poem are written in Russian and Greek.
I can not read Russian or Greek.
But I enjoyed it anyway.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minus one star for making me feel just a little bit stupid.

[Riky Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing short of incredible. It's a book that is as serious and sad as it is funny and as sincere as it is sarcastic. No book of this length should be able to pull off this breadth of knowledge in such a seamless way. From Wittgenstein to Dickinson, postcolonialism to romanticism, the nature of language to the inherent distance between consciousnesses...this book is a tour de force in questioning and questioning questioning. It's hyper-eclectic but above all engaging and undeniably fun. Ostashevsky delivered a novelistic poem that deserves more attention than it has gotten - it'll probably be "discovered" at some point in the future as a classic.

This is now one of my go-to recommendations for any literary person.

[KJ Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

At turns silly, brilliant, and exhausting. The first two sections are the strongest and the shifts in tone—particularly from dizzying wordplay to earnest musings—feel the most earned. This book always feels like it’s wearing some sort of cloak: behold the philosophy expressed in Gilbert and Sullivanese; behold the Russian when even English wordplay isn’t enough; behold a character’s clear poem nestled inside learned poems that taste like bark. Inside every joke is a kernel of a joke.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The pirate sails the Spanish Main / His ship describes a Markov chain” hooked me from the beginning. Joyful and completely absurd. The perfect little collection of poetry/prose to keep in my bag for when I need a quick laugh. So many references I could research, which will make for a fun re-read, but I was pleased with the ones I got! I like the pirate and the parrot. :)

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alliterative puns in poetry and prose play out in this farce about a parrot and a pirate who ponder about their lives and the meaning of life. At times it is quite amusing, and at others it is not. Therefore, it rates 3.5 stars.

[Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Yes, there will always be a distance between you and your words."

Not my type of poetry–big focus on wordplay. That being said, the themes were interesting. Also it owns that so much of the Russian is untranslated.

[Denlillebogblog · Rating 1 out of 5]

1½ star.

This just wasn't a book for me.

[legitphilosophe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Epic for the Linguist. A definite reread just for annotation sake.

[vio · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is honestly really cool and adventurous, like the philosophy mixed with poetry

[liza mayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

most experimental book i've ever read - a reminder that adult poetry should not always be romantic or depressing

[Damaris Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Pontius Pirate” Brilliant.