Paul Klee's Boat

by Anzhelina Polonskaya, Andrew Wachtel (Translator)

Overview

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Anzhelina Polonskaya did not receive a classic Russian literary education, so her work is considerably more idiosyncratic and less anchored in tradition. This book, her first collection in English translation since 2005, includes her cycle "Kursk," an oratorio requiem with music by David Chisolm that will be performed across Australia and the United States.

Anzhelina Polonskaya was born in Malakhovka, a small town near Moscow, Russia. She began to write poems seriously at the age of eighteen. Between 1995 and 1997 she lived in Latin America, working as a professional ice dancer. Her first book of verse Svetoch Moi Nebesny (My Heavenly Torch) appeared in 1993. Eventually deciding to leave ice skating, and to devote herself full-time to literature, Polonskaya consistently has been one of the freshest voices writing on both the Russian and world stage.

Andrew Wachtel is the president of the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Previously he was dean of The Graduate School and director of the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of numerous publications, he is also a translator from Russian, Bosnian/Croation/Serbian, and Slovene. He translated Anzhelina Polonskaya's previous collection, A Voice (Northwestern UniversityPress, 1995).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983297079
Publisher:	Zephyr Press
Publication date:	12/11/2012
Series:	In the Grip of Strange Thoughts
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Language:	Russian

About the Author

Anzhelina Polonskaya was born in Malakhovka, a small town near Moscow. She began to write poems seriously at the age of eighteen. Between 1995 and 1997 she lived in Latin America, working as a professional ice dancer. Her first book of verses Svetoch Moi Nebesny (My Heavenly Torch) appeared in 1993. In 1998, the Moscow Writer’s Publishing House published her second book, entitled Verses. Having left the ice show, Polonskaya decided to devote herself to literature. Her works were published in many of the broadest circulation Russian journals in this period. Since 1998, she has been a member of the Moscow Union of Writers. In 1999, her book The Sky in a Private’s Eye was published. In September 1999, this book was presented at the First International Festival of Poets in Moscow, and, in October 1999, at an international poetry festival/conference at Northwestern University(Chicago, USA). In 2002 her book Golos (A Voice) was published in Moscow, and in 2003, Polonskaya became a member of the Russian PEN-centre. In 2004 an English version of her book, entitled A Voice, appeared in the acclaimed “Writings from an Unbound Europe” series at Northwestern UniversityPress.

Andrew Wachtel is the president of the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Previously he was dean of The Graduate School and director of the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of numerous publications, he is also a translator from Russian, Bosnian/Croation/Serbian and Slovene. He translated Anzhelina Polonskaya’s previous collection, A Voice (Northwestern UP, 1995).

Table of Contents

Translator's Foreword xi

$ Paul Klees Boat 2

$ "Picasso's Cubism…" 4

$ From a Modigliani 6

$ Philosophy of the Desert 8

$ Like David 10

$ The Museum of Mortal Sins 12

$ Photo Albums 14

$ The Seasons 16

$ Leaves 18

$ Apples 20

$ December Divertimento 22

$ Snow Within 26

$ Snow 28

$ Father 30

$ Alone in My Room 32

$ Hourglass 34

$ A Hand on the Table. And Night on the Table. 36

$ We Go 38

$ "He went to Key West to look at…" 40

$ From an Arboreal Language 42

Matiz Matiz 44

$ Separation 46

$ Two Birds 48

$ Ad Lib 50

$ In Exchange for Courage and Strength 52

$ Soul 54

$ "During the short night I went gray…" 56

$ Marina 58

$ "As you can see …" 60

$ Quarter to Five 62

$ Gray and Blue 64

$ Still Life with Potato Field 66

$ Execution 68

$ A Normal War 70

$ Flavia 72

$ So Now the Soldiers Have Gone 74

$ Journey to Byzantium 76

$ Chance of a Gale 78

$ The Wave 80

$ Greek Diary 84

$ Dalmatian Cycle 98

$ Free Verses 110

$ Kursk: An Oratorio Requiem 122