About this title: Mayakovsky (1893-1930) is one of the most important post-Revolution poets of Russia, and one of the major international figures of 20th-century avant-garde poetics. This selected edition draws from his entire career, ranging from his early love lyric "The Cloud in Trousers," through "Conversation with a tax Collector About Poetry," to "Bedbug," ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Meridian Books (M94), New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. some notes/underlining in book. 317 p. 19cm. Poems in Russian and English. read more
Description: Good. 0253201896 Quality used book! Clean inside with some cover wear. Ships quickly with free tracking! Questions or concerns? Contact me or check my feedback! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780253201898ISBN:0253201896
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very minor extremity wear, light rubbing otherwise a near fine copy. Poems in English, Russian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 317 p. Audience: General/trade. For too many years the great Russian poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky has been known to the West only by hearsay. In this volume the essence of his achievement is laid open to judgment by English-speaking readers. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Meridian Books, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1968
Description: Good. Dual language with Russian on one page and the English translation on the facing page. This volume collects poetry from all periods of Mayakovsky's career, from pre-revolutionary work to his work found after his suicide. Also included is the play "The Bedbug, " a classic Russian political satire. In GOOD condition with moderate darkening around the extremities of the book. Light scuffing and creasing present. Minor edgewear. Spine sunned. Text is clean and tight with light browning ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780253201898ISBN:0253201896
Description: Good. 0253201896. Translated from the Russian by Max Hayward and George Reavey. Some underlining and previous owner notes, covers scuffed.; 0.7 x 7.7 x 5.2 Inches; 320 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Meridien
Date Published: 1966
Description: Very Good. Very minor shelf wear. No writings or markings. No bending. Tight binding and hinge. Very little spine creasing. Yellowing of cover and pages. read more
Description: New. 0253201896 Brand new book still in shrinkwrap! Ships quickly with free tracking! Questions or concerns? Contact me or check my feedback! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780253201898ISBN:0253201896
Description: New. Minor book cover wear, new inside GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: New. 0253201896 Indiana University Press trade paperback, 2003 (13th) printing, No marks or 'shelf wear'...NEW...Bubble-wrapped and mailed in a Box w/delivery confirmation. read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Word Publishing, New York
Date Published: 1970
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Light wear and bumping. Bottom edge of pages stamped with the letter "P. " Jacket a bit rubbed and faded along the spine. A collection of the greatest works of the Russian Revolution's tragic poet, with facing Russian-English text. 317 pages. read more
Edition: 12mo. 1st UK edition. 317 pp.
Binding: Red cloth binding with gilt stamped spine lettering. Dust jacket
Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,, London:
Date Published: 1961.
Description: Slight splay to boards, otherwise a VG+ copy in a VG jacket. read more
Edition: First World Printing.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York
Date Published: 1970
Description: Description: 317 p. 20 cm. Subjects: Russian poetry. Revolution-Russia-Poetry. Fine cloth copy in a near fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dw, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and sharp-cornered. 1. pp. 317. read more
"Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Russian poet and dramatist who had a powerful influence on the writers of his day. He initially supported the aims and programs of Bolshevism - in addition to writing serious poetry he created many propaganda posters - and traveled widely outside Russia, but he gradually became disillusioned with the nature and direction of the Soviet Union under Stalin, writing satirical drama that was quickly suppressed. He died playing Russian roulette.
Mayakovsky's poetry can be vigorous, rough, and powerful: "Your thought,/ musing on a sodden brain/ like a bloated lackey on a greasy couch,/ I'll taunt with a bloody morsel of heart;/ and satiate my insolent, caustic contempt." He can also be exquisitely sensitive and introspective, as in his last poem, "Past One O'Clock":
"Past one o'clock. You must have gone to bed. The Milky Way streams silver through the night. I'm in no hurry; with lightning telegrams I have no cause to wake or trouble you. And, as they say, the incident is closed. Love's boat has smashed against the daily grind. Now you and I are quits. Why bother then to balance mutual sorrows, pains, and hurts. Behold what quiet settles on the world. Night wraps the sky in tribute from the stars. In hours like these, one rises to address The ages, history, and all creation."
In "The Bedbug," a delightfully satirical and amusing play, Mayakovsky uses the figure of Prisypkin, a former Party member in about 1920, to contrast those dedicated to the purity of the Revolution with those intent on working for their own material and social advantage. At the end of the first half of the play, a fire consumes the place and personages present for Prisypkin's wedding. In the second half, fifty years later, Prisypkin is discovered frozen in a block of ice in the basement of the burned-out building and is resuscitated, along with a bedbug crawling out of his collar; mutual misunderstandings between Prisypkin and "modern" Soviet citizens inevitably ensue, and Prisypkin and the bedbug are left living in a cage in the zoo. For us today, the play provides prescient insights into the nature and course of Russian history over the course of the 20th century, even as it sheds light on the intellectual ferment and variety of Russia in the late 1920's."
"The Bedbug is one of my favorite plays, so this is a re-read. Full of crazy scenes. At his wedding, the protagonist gets into a fight to defend his bride, her veil catches fire, the fumes from all the alcohol set the hall ablaze, the firemen get there two hours later to flood the place but the protagonist is never found. Fifty years later the body is found, frozen in the basement and revived (along with his bedbug!)."
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![The bedbug [a play] and selected poetry](http://images.alibris.com/isbn/9780253201898.gif)
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