The book revisits the final decade in the life of Osip Mandelstam (1891ā1938), a central poet of Russian Modernism. Premised on the belief that no life can be understood without insight into its contradictions, the book attends to the two contentious cruxes of Mandelstam's life and art: his testifying against his closest friends to the secret police and his composition, in exile, of an ode in praise of Stalin. Offering a close reading of the protocols of Mandelstam's interrogations, a critical reflection on the nature of the Ā«OdeĀ» and an unflinching yet humane interpretation of the connecting events, the book pursues the dramatic arc of Mandelstam's imaginative involvement with the politics of the Soviet state, revealing the perennial aspects of his case in dialogue with poets and critics in the English language, from Andrew Marvell to William Empson. In doing so, the book contemplates Mandelstam ā a poet of Ā«longing for world cultureĀ» ā as a phenomenon of Western literature at large.

- 286 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on theāÆText
- Preface
- Exhibits
- Prologue: Biography Between Contradictions
- Chapter 1. āThe Stalin Epigramā and the Liberty of Protest
- Chapter 2. A Moulten Falcon
- Chapter 3. āBe Simple Answerād, for We Know the Truthā
- Chapter 4. Double Bind, 1934
- Interlude Under the Stars
- Chapter 5. In the Cross-Vault
- Chapter 6. Quarrels on the Witness Stand Posthumous Mandelstam
- Epilogue: Criticism and the Fate of Poets
- References
- Perspectives in English
- Index
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Yes, you can access Under the Sign of Contradiction by Anna Razumnaya in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Poetry. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.