Writing as Exorcism: The Personal Codes of Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol by Ilya Kutik
2008; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 103; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2008.0340
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Tópico(s)Soviet and Russian History
Resumo302 Reviews address thatneed. This book offers amore concerted overview of a poetry which was often the equal of itsnon-Yiddish contemporaries not only in formal and linguistic complexities, but in the sensitive and powerful treatment of themes and imagery. At the core of this collection are the translations from theHarshavs' earlierAmeri can Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, I986). That is still an indispensable work, because of its seminal introduction, its bilingual layout, itsample sampling of contemporary art, and itsappendices of criti calmaterials. However, where thatanthology focuses narrowly on thepoetry of seven poets surrounding (but not limited to) the Introspectivist movement inNew York, the present volume gives a representative look atmore than twentypoets in the century spanning themid-nineteenth to themid-twentieth centuries. Carping at translational peccadilloes and lacunae is the bread and butter of trans lation criticism, but I do not feel theneed to find my lunch there. Iwill onlymention that the stated translational policy-'we feltan obligation topresent a translation that is as close to the original as possible' (p. xxxi) while at the same time 'adopt[ing] a reader-friendly approach and [making] the text as transparent to a contemporary American reader as possible' (p. xxxii)-is both sound and largely adhered to. Certain editorial decisions will no doubt draw some attention. The firsthas to do with the exclusion of some poets .The omission ofMikhl Likht, Avrom Lyesin, or Zishe Vaynper, toname a few,isbound todraw some readers up short, especially since another important poet, Avrom Reyzen, isrepresented, but only by twopoems and one song. However, the exigencies of space and other practical considerations necessarily take their tollon any project such as this,and the authors admit asmuch (p. xxxi). The second editorial decision which might prove trickyconcerns the eight topical rubrics under which the poets have been divided. By and large they are uncontro versial, including such categories as 'Proletarian Poets', 'Symbolism and Expression ism', and 'Introspectivism'. However, the sixth part, 'Narrative Poetry', consists of excerpts from only one long poem, 'Kentucky', by one poet, Y. Y. Shvarts; and the category 'Women Poets' may strike some as out of place. It is clearly laudable to include thevoices of these remarkable poets, who too often get short shrift in literary history, iftheyare notwritten out of italtogether. But when theother rubrics describe some aspect of thepoetry itself,to focus on thepoets' gender as the characteristic of theirpoetry seems tomake thatwork somehow parochial. Nevertheless, such grousing in no way discredits the goal and accomplishment of this book. That it is useful to professionals in the field and at the same time both enjoyable and inviting toenthusiasts who do not have access to the original language ismanifestly to the credit of the translators. THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE,UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD JORDAN FINKIN Writing as Exorcism: The Personal Codes ofPushkin, Lermontov and Gogol. By ILYA KUTIK. (Northwestern University Press Studies inRussian Literature and The ory) Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 2005. xiii+ I52 pp. $69.95. ISBN 978-o-8101-205 i-8. This shortwork opens with an introduction byGary Morson which, as well as locat ing it in the context of literaryhistory, alerts us to the unorthodoxy of Ilya Kutik's approach toPushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol-his 'weird formof biographism' (p. xi) that focuses on authors rather thanworks. 'Biographism' isan apt term for what Kutik does: his interest is precisely in theway inwhich writers 'exorcize' theirobsessions throughwriting and create what he terms a 'psychological dominant' (p. 4) in their work. Kutik is a poet and, asMorson tentatively suggests, 'sometimes it takes a poet MLR, I03. I, 2oo8 303 to read a poet' (p. vii), though this formulation is somehow easier to accept than the author's own claim thatas 'apractising poet [. . ] I use my poetic intuition to recreate what I believe tohave been themindsets of these authors as theywrote' (p. 5). Some readersmay be put offby thisagenda, but ultimately it is thevalidity ofKutik's find ings that matter. Of Gogol Kutik makes the following claims: thathe secretly imagined he was divine and sought to expiate this blasphemy in his works; thathis obsession with noses relates toa fearof insanityvia the equivalence of nos/nous; that Italywas his 'platonic...
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