Suicide Circus

by Aleksei Kruchenykh, Jack Hirschman (Translator)

The first English language translation of one of the great poets of Russian Futurism.

Genres: Poetry, Russia

152 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Griffin Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a let down overall, but with an occasional great poem. Hirschman is one of my favorite translators of Mayakovsky so I thought this would be great, and was doubly excited given this is the only english translation of Kruchenykh. The issue here is the opposite of how Gorki once described Mayakovsky: ". . . he showed an addiction to playing with words...That would be good if it were gay. But he invested that far-fetched verbal play with serious meaning, intensifying it 'to the degree of mysticism in phonetics,' as A. Bely once put it." Here there is often no serious meaning or grounding—a lot of fancy and jokes and wild experimentation, but with no foundation (at least not in english) that lets you feel it. Still, a valuable addition for any lover of Russian futurist poetry, especially of those figures that historically shine as examples but have not reached us in posterity through much needed translation. Likewise on the horizon of such figures is the forthcoming translation of Vasily Kamensky's Tango with Cows: Ferro-Concrete Poems from Ugly Duckling Presse early in 2021.

[AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite of the Russian futurist poets, lumped in with Mayakovsky as fathers of the Zaum poetry movement, where words were undermined for their meaning, relying instead upon their sound for poetic resonance. This was the first book I bought on the subject (swayed by the compact style and aesthetic of the actual text) and it opened me up to this group of writers who were marginalized by the oppressive Communist government during their lifetimes. Many 20th century Russian writers had similar experiences of persecution or exile, which led to many not being known extensively in the West during their lifetimes. Thankfully, we now have many of these unsung voices being published in our times, and we are richer for it. I highly recommend this volume.

[Razvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

În fapt am citit versiunea română editată la Tracus Arte în 2020 tradusă de Leo Butnaru. Titlul din română "Excavatorul gloatelor". ISBN 9786060231622.

Nu voi mai incerca adăugarea versiunii in Goodreads după încercări nereușite la noua procedură bazată pe forum. În plus experiențe nasoale cu amazon.de părintele lor
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Review is for the Romanian version. Translator Leo Butnaru. Romanian title "Excavatorul gloatelor".ISBN 9786060231622.

No more details as my last try to add new books (with forum as new method) fail. New Goodreads process. This add to bad feeling after fucking experience with Amazon de.



Nice to meet Aleksei Keucionîh with this book.