Maximilian Voloshin’s Poetic Legacy and the Post-Soviet Russian Identity

Famed and outspoken Russian poet, Maximilian Voloshin's notoriety has grown steadily since his slow release from Soviet censorship. For the first time, Landa showcases his vast poetic contributions, proving his words to be an overlooked solution both to the political and cultural turmoil engulfing the Soviet Union in the early twentieth century. "Landa's reconstruction of the poet Maximilian Voloshin's world is unforgettable. It derives its power from masterful analysis of the complex relationship between Voloshin's poetry, historical events, and reader reception - both in the tumultuous years surrounding the Revolutions of 1917, and the cataclysmic decades since the USSR ended in 1991. The result is a bold meditation on Russian identity." - Glennys Young, Professor of History and International Studies, University of Washington, USA "Landa's innovative book focuses on Maksimilian Voloshin as a great poet as well as a major cultural phenomenon. After carefully placing Voloshin in the context of his time, she traces the reception of his work, showing how it reflects Russians' complex and contradictory self-perceptions beginning with his contemporaries and continuing up to the present day. Readers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines will appreciate the way that Landa deftly weaves together biography, poetry, history, and politics." - Michael Wachtel, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University, USA "In this book Mariana Landa accomplishes two very important tasks. First, she restores Maksimilian Voloshin to his rightful place as one of the major Russian poets of the early part of the twentieth century, providing sensitive, diligently contextualized readings of his powerful post-Revolutionary works. She then offers a fascinating case study of the various uses to which poetry has been put in the political process. Anyone with an interest in Voloshin's work, in the interplay between literature and politics, and in Russia's ongoing struggle to define itself will learn a great deal from this book." - Boris Dralyuk, Lecturer in Russian, University of St Andrews, UK"Landa's book is very timely since it addresses Russia's perpetual identity crisis and posits Maximilian Voloshin as an overlooked solution both to the political and cultural turmoil that engulfed Russia/the Soviet Union shortly after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, and to the no less chaotic and disorienting situation that followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union and has continued to these days. The book is becoming more pertinent with every passing minute, since many of its descriptions of what was taking place in the period from 1917 to 1923 seem to have been written about the current political crisis in Ukraine, which Russia is simultaneously trying to resolve and contributing to. Landa's book will be a discovery for all those who appreciate great poetry, and Voloshin was truly a great poet." - Galina Rylkova, Associate Professor of Russian, University of Florida, USA, and author of The Archaeology of Anxiety: The Russian Silver Age and Its Legacy "A Russian modernist poet, Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932) gained wide acclaim after his release from Soviet censorship. Voloshin's religious and anti-totalitarian poems about Russia's and Crimea's history brought him extraordinary popularity during the two crises of Russian identity that accompanied the creation and dissolution of the USSR from 1917 through the 1920s and from 1991 through 2014. Analyzing his poems and readers' responses to them in their historical context, Landa positions Voloshin's myth of Russia as a model for national reconciliation. The book ends with the annexation of Crimea and its aftermath as Voloshin's peacemaking appeal was made relevant again for the government and the opposition: the Russians, Ukrainians, and Tatars"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Introduction....Pages 1-20 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 The Years of Apprenticeship....Pages 23-58 The Revolution: Voloshin as the Poet of Russia....Pages 59-107 Poems on the Red Terror in Crimea: Never Forget....Pages 109-150 Front Matter....Pages 151-154 Voloshin and the Soviet Past....Pages 155-165 Dreaming of a Free Russia....Pages 167-176 Voloshin and Russia’s Religious Revival....Pages 177-187 Conclusion....Pages 189-192 Back Matter....Pages 193-273