Suggestions and Comments From the Group

[Camille]

I'm not sure if it's the right topic to post my comment, so apologies if it isn't!

Will there be any more group reads at all?

[Jay "Jakie"]

Good morning! I am new to this group. Have not read any Russian literature other than Nabokov and Dostoevsky in recent years anyway. Have read more of the non-fictional Russian history of the recent era WWII, histories of the Revolution, Stalin, Lenin and the Balkans.

The other night I happened to watch a movie based on the work of Eugenia Ginzburg as I had read her two works: "Into the Whirlwind" and "Within the Whirlwind." The movie entitled "Within the Whirlwind" about her time in the Gulag. Oh my god! What an absolutely tragic, yet beautiful film! It blew me away! And what helped make it so was the inclusion of Russian poetry and literature by Mandelstam, Mayakovsky, Gogol and many others. It has impelled me to read these poets and authors immediately.

Anyway, can any of you possibly identify the author of this particular poem?

Overcome by autumn gold,
tomorrow I myself shall be no longer young.
You're not throbbing heart as before,
but tremble, feeling chills,
where not yet known.
Life, were you real,
or a fancy born?
It's as if in spring
I've been out riding
on a pink horse in a vibrant dawn.
This world of ours...we are all water.
Couple leaves from maples gently slide.

The poetry as translated in this movie was so heartbreakingly beautiful, I wept to re-read it. (I actually transcribed the poems from the closed captions.) Is this one of Mayakovsky's? Thanks in advance!

There had been a thread on this group on this same topic some years ago when the film first came out and I thought it would be okay to resurrect it.



jay

[Elina]

Hi, the poem is by Esenin.
Here is the whole thing

https://russianlegacy.com/russian_cul...

[Jay "Jakie"]

Thank you so much, Elina! A simply beautiful poem, heartbreakingly beautiful!

[P.E.]

Thank you, Elina!

[Sue]

I love Esenin, thank you

[Jonathon]

Thanks for turning me on to this poem.

[Maree]

A comment and a query:
I found a really interesting website when doing research for my novel, The Impossible History of Trotsky's SisterThe Impossible History of Trotsky's Sister, it is called http://www.sovlit.net. Lots of 20th century writers and links to stuff I've never seen anywhere else.
Query: I have a new Russian book which I'm yet to start reading. It's called Solovyov and Larionov by Eugene Vodolazkin. Has anyone read it? It's on my pile and I'll read it sooner rather than later if its a good one.
thanks Russian lit lovers