Alexander Tvardovsky – Poems (Поэмы) – Moscow, Knizhnaya Palata, 1988 (Russian Language)
A substantial collection of four major long poems by Alexander Tvardovsky (1910–1971), one of the most important Russian poets of the Soviet era.
Published in Russian by Knizhnaya Palata (Книжная палата) as part of the Popular Library series, this 1988 hardback brings together four of Tvardovsky’s best-known works: Vasily Tyorkin, his celebrated epic about an ordinary Russian soldier during the Second World War; Beyond the Distance – Distance; the sharply satirical Tyorkin in the Other World; and By Right of Memory, his powerful late confrontation with Stalinism and the painful history of his generation.
Particularly interesting historically is the inclusion of By Right of Memory, which had only recently become available in print. A contemporary literary account of this 1988 edition notes that the collection opened with an introductory essay by Yuri Burtin and concluded with readers’ responses to the poems, including By Right of Memory.
Tvardovsky’s work occupies a fascinating position in Soviet literature. Initially celebrated by the Soviet establishment, he became increasingly critical of Stalinism and was the influential editor of Novy Mir who helped bring Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to publication.
A good example of late-Soviet Russian literary publishing and an attractive addition to collections of Russian poetry, Soviet literature, Second World War literature and twentieth-century literature
