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1994
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Blue Vitriol
Alexei Parshchikov is one of the most brilliant and accomplished Russian poets of his generation. But until now his voice has rarely been heard outside his native country. The publication of Blue Vitriol is the first opportunity for most English and American readers to experience the full force of his extraordinary talent. "Fantastical elaboration of metaphor, not as a decorative device, or an occasion for clever display, but as a fundamental way of apprehending and transforming the world...Parshchikov's troubled and powerful imagination is clear." --Publishers Weekly
"In an 1898 letter from St. Petersburg, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote that it was Russian things that would give him the names for his most tender 'devoutnesses.' Now, almost 100 years later, it would seem that it is not Russian things but Russian names-the fullness of these poems, here beautifully translated for us-that embody those devoutnesses that prolong close observation and sustain contemplative complexity. Alexei Parshchikov's detailed lingering in the world he perceives has given us the fullness of these poems. Their publication in this, his first American book, is an important occasion." --Lyn Hejinian, poet, essayist, and translator "Alexei Parshchikov is undoubtedly the most exciting young Russian poet today. Through his first English-language collection of his work, American readers get a glimpse of an imagination that soars freely and boldly through all times and places. Indeed, this book is the trace of a poetic road that, in Parshchikov's words, 'is the place for finding your way while time's wind unwinds you and sets you against the flow.'" --Andrew Wachtel, professor of Slavic Studies, Northwestern University |
