Times for some poetry to feature again on the Ramblings! I’ve enjoyed a bit of a resurgence of my reading of verse over recent months, and I’m determined to keep this up – even if, as in today’s case, it’s once again a very slim collection. They certainly seem to have been a good way to get back into poetry reading, as those large complete volumes can be so intimidating… Today’s title is a relatively recent arrival and, as usual, I can’t recall how I came across it. However, it was a welcome addition to my poetry shelves – the title is “Red Cats”, translated by Anselm Hollo, and it’s an old and fragile City Lights Pocket Poets book. I have a number of those in my library, mainly in the form of Allan Ginsberg books, but this particular title is an anthology of translations from the Russian, and it made fascinating reading.
I should state straight away that I’m going to count this book for our #1962Club reads as the English translations are stated in the front of the book to be copyright that year. The verses it contains are from a range of Russian poets, some of whom I was familiar and some of who were new to me. The names are Yevgeni Yevtushenko, Semyon Kirsanov and Andrei Voznesensky. Yevtushenko was, of course, becoming a more widely known name globally at the time, and as the blurb on the back of the book makes clear, the poets were making the most of the thaw in relations between east and west at the time. I’ll share an image of the back of the chapbook so you can see what that blurb says!
But let’s put the rhetoric aside and look at the poems. What struck me initially was the modernity of the verse and how so much of it was still relevant. For example, Yevtushenko’s Uriah Heep – a London Poem rails about the title character ‘cheering the neo-fascists’ and ‘writing weird articles in the Daily Mail’ so it rather seems that not much has changed there…
Kirsanov’s poem Mayakovsky Has Gone is a lovely piece, capturing the essense of Mayakovsky and his writing in its lines. Yevtushenko’s short work From the Portrait of a “Nihilist” reflects the eternal clash of generations which will probably never change, whatever time or culture you live in. And Kirsanov cuts through to the heart of things (literally!) with his poem The New Heart, where he reflects of the need to love and understand each other, but also to know who can be approached and who avoided – always a knotty problem under totalitarian regimes.
A heart
for the future: to feel
and love with. A heart
to understand men with:
The poems in “Red Cats” are often very representative of their times, yet somehow transcend them – which is I suppose a sign of good poetry. I found them very immediate, very emotionally resonant and very human; the kind of poetry I like and that I often return to. I’m not sure at what point in 1962 this book was published (although the poems themselves are mostly dated 1960 and 1961); however, October of that year of course saw the Cuban Missile Crisis and things going pear-shaped between east and west again. Maybe “Red Cats” was a glimmer of hope which looked for reconciliation between both sides; however, it stands now as a collection of some marvellous poets, and although I’ve previously read Yevtushenko, I’m not sure the Kirsanov or Voznesensky have crossed my path before. On the basis of their work here, though, I definitely want to read more of them! 😀
Ms L S Johnson
Oct 21, 2023 @ 08:27:16
I will be sure to take a look – the WordPress offerings this morning are too delightful!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:03:15
There’s certainly a lot of lovely 1962 choices to read about!
Ms L S Johnson
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:18:21
Yeah!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:23:48
😊😊
madamebibilophile
Oct 21, 2023 @ 11:53:22
This sounds a really interesting collection, what a shame it hasn’t dated in some senses. I love that back cover blurb – it seems very much of its time!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 11:58:29
It’s really interesting Madame B, and I feel that we went through some relatively liberal times in the decades following it but have now looped back to a more conflicted era. And yes, the blurb is wonderful!
Elle
Oct 21, 2023 @ 11:59:50
Superficial though it is of me, I’m fascinated by the phrasing of the blurb on the back of the book. It’s so… colloquial, such a personal voice. Can you imagine a publisher today allowing the use of “pretty” as a qualifier in any official marketing materials (“pretty dreary frozen seas”)?
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:08:34
Not superficial at all – I thought the blurb was wonderfully of its time which is why I shared it! 😊 And as the publisher is City Lights it was always going to be a bit hepcat! From the days when publishing was perhaps a bit less cliched and formulaic…
Elle
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:57:20
I’m sure that’s part of it, though I still can’t even imagine (let’s say) Daunt Books taking this tone—but I do like it.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 13:45:07
No, I suspect not – but I like it too!!
Margot Kinberg
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:17:53
How lovely! And I think it’s terrific that some of these poets get a wider audience as they are translated. You make a well-taken point, too: poetry is much more meaningful if the poems resonate by exploring things we can relate to, no matter if the poems were published years ago.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 12:24:45
Translating poetry must be so hard, Margot, but I love to read it and appreciate the translators. I think poems like these do show that we are all the same really under one bit sky, and these particular verses are still so relevant.
mallikabooks15
Oct 21, 2023 @ 15:43:10
The Uriah Heep poem does sound interesting (as does the collection as a whole)–it’s so disheartening to see how things never really change much.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 16:50:34
It is – I’m often a bit shocked when I read older works and realise how little has changed… 😦
Julé Cunningham
Oct 21, 2023 @ 17:18:42
What a wonderful little collection! And that blurb is so personable, I miss writing that doesn’t go through the very fine mesh of a marketing department.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 21, 2023 @ 18:53:33
I agree – there’s a genuine quality which is so missing in modern marketing. 21st century blurbs are desperately cliched…
Simon T
Oct 21, 2023 @ 21:03:29
How funny that we both posted about ‘cat’ books today, though very different! What a snapshot of 1962 this is, fascinating.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 22, 2023 @ 21:46:41
It’s an incredibly varied year, that’s for sure!
Marcie McCauley
Oct 21, 2023 @ 21:28:40
Good on you for actually reading these older pamphlet-style publications and not simply collecting them and leaving them unread. (Wellll, obviously both you and I have way more unread than read things on our shelves…in total…but you know what I mean, it’s a challenge when the items are fragile!)
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 22, 2023 @ 21:44:57
Well, books are meant to be read after all… 🤣😉
bookbii
Oct 23, 2023 @ 07:50:23
What a lovely book. I need to get back to reading poetry too, these sound like an unexpected treasure.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 23, 2023 @ 15:36:21
It was a real joy – and the perfect size for a poetry collection!!
Liz Dexter
Oct 23, 2023 @ 11:09:12
What a dear old copy and a lovely example to add to the Club, too.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 23, 2023 @ 15:28:35
It’s a lovely little edition, and I was glad it fitted in for the Club! 😊
heavenali
Oct 23, 2023 @ 23:25:53
What an interesting collection. A perfect 1962 read for you too. It’s good to have poetry included in the week’s reviews.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 24, 2023 @ 18:01:01
It was perfect for me, yes, and I’m so glad it turned out to be a 1962 book! I like to squeeze poetry into the clubs but there isn’t always such a good fit!