My Discovery of America (Modern Voices) - Softcover

Vladimir Mayakovsky; Colum McCann (foreword); Neil Cornwell (translator)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843914085 ISBN 13: 9781843914082

Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd, 2005

Synopsis

Touring the United States in 1925, the Russian Futurist poet and propagandist Vladimir Mayakovsky observed at first hand what he considered to be the model for Soviet technological development. Writing in his typical declamatory style, he found much to celebrate in the modernised, industrialised America of the 1920s creativity and advancement, a 'primitive futurism'. But he also decried the social injustices of uncaring capitalism, losing no opportunity to propound his own political beliefs. Presented here in full for the first time in the English language, 'My Discovery of America' forms an inspired series of humorous sketches, thoughts, jottings and poems, the significance of which resounds from the early twentieth century through to our own times.

About this title

Review:

'One could talk endlessly of Mayakovsky, because he gets and keeps the heart beating. He shores it up and then he tramples it down.' --Colum McCann

'Neil Cornwell's translation is racy and readable, containing such words as ''run-up'', ''curvaceous'', ''titchy'', ''kerfuffle'' and ''rip-off'' and admirably catches the flavour of Mayakovsky's prose style: hyperbolic, witty and characterized by neologisms, folk etymology and a fascination with foreign words. For all his iconoclastic tendencies, Mayakovsky can occasionally write in a manner which would do credit to the classics of Russian literature.' --East-West Review

From the Author:

‘I could have written 10,000 words, because Mayakovsky gets the heart beating’ – COLUM MCCANN

About this edition

• Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1843914085
• ISBN 13: 9781843914082
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144