The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam

OsipMandelstamisacentralfigurenotonlyinmodernRussianbutinworldpoetry,theauthorofsomeofthemosthauntingandmemorablepoemsofthetwentiethcentury.AcontemporaryofAnnaAkhmatova,MarinaTsvetayeva,andBorisPasternak,atouchstoneforlatermasterssuchasPaulCelanandRobertLowell,Mandelstamwasacrucialinstigatorofthe"revolutionoftheword"thattookplaceinSt.Petersburg,onlytobecrushedbytheBolshevikRevolution.Mandelstam'slastpoems,writtenintheintervalbetweenhisexiletotheprovincesbyStalinandhisdeathintheGulag,areanextraordinarytestamenttotheenduranceofartinthepresenceofterror.ThisbookrepresentsacollaborationbetweenthescholarClarenceBrownandW.S.Merwin,oneofcontemporaryAmerica'sfinestpoetsandtranslators.ItalsoincludesMandelstam's"ConversationonDante,"anuncategorizableworkofgeniuscontainingthepoet'sdeepestreflectionsonthenatureofthepoeticprocess.