St. Petersburg Quotes

“O título [da peça Vladimir Maiakóvski, do autor de mesmo nome] escondia uma revelação brilhantemente simples, a de que o poeta não é o autor, mas o objeto da poesia lírica, dirigindo-se ao mundo na primeira pessoa. O título designava não o autor, mas o conteúdo.
Boris Pasternak”
― Solomon Volkov, St. Petersburg: A Cultural History

“Akimov had to wage exhausting battles with the censors over each poster. As he later recalled, "No one banned posters in general, but almost each poster specifically was banned. The excuses were quite subtle: 'Does not express the play's idea,' 'insufficiently optimistic,' 'the text is not visible from a distance,' 'the title is too aggressively presented,' and the favorite, which fit any occasion, 'isn't there some formalism here?'" For one play, Akimov drew Moscow at night; the authorities perceived it as an attempt by a Leningrader to undermine Moscow's international reputation as a sunny city and consequently termed it a "crude political error.”
― Solomon Volkov, St. Petersburg: A Cultural History