Osip Mandelstam
Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938) was born in Warsaw and grew up in a Jewish family in St. Petersburg. He was a member of the Acmeist group. After a nomadic life, he was arrested, sentenced to hard labor, and died in eastern Siberia.
It seems almost impossible to pay adequate homage to the poetic genius and personal courage of Osip Mandelstam, manifested during a time in the Soviet Union of tyrannical repression and terror. These spirited and meticulous versions drawn from his poetry and prose, however, by the masterful translator Peter France, bring us considerably closer to achieving that goal. They attest to the extraordinary range and depth of Mandelstam’s complex artistic sensibility and intellect. Let us, simply enough, gratefully welcome them.
Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938) was born in Warsaw and grew up in a Jewish family in St. Petersburg. He was a member of the Acmeist group. After a nomadic life, he was arrested, sentenced to hard labor, and died in eastern Siberia.
It seems almost impossible to pay adequate homage to the poetic genius and personal courage of Osip Mandelstam, manifested during a time in the Soviet Union of tyrannical repression and terror. These spirited and meticulous versions drawn from his poetry and prose, however, by the masterful translator Peter France, bring us considerably closer to achieving that goal. They attest to the extraordinary range and depth of Mandelstam’s complex artistic sensibility and intellect. Let us, simply enough, gratefully welcome them.