Translated by Philip Metres
An integral member of the '70s generation, Gandlevsky was one of the
underground Russian poets who began by writing only for themselves and
their circles of friends during the Brezhnev era. Despite their relative
cultural obscurity--or perhaps, precisely because of their situation as
internal émigrés--Gandlevsky and the Seventies Generation forged new
directions in Russian poetry, unfettered by the pressures that burdened
Russian writers both prior to, and during, the Soviet period.
Gandlevsky, like many of the underground, chose unprestigious careers,
or even odd jobs, both to avoid participating in what he saw as a
morally bankrupt society, while freeing up time for writing and travel.
Gandlevsky has since become one of the most important contemporary
Russian poets, winning both the Little Booker Prize and the Anti-Booker
Prize in 1996 for his poetry and prose. A Kindred Orphanhood is the
first English translation of Gandlevsky's collected poems. The book
follows the author's chronological order; while the early poems
introduce the reader to his recurring obsessions, the later poems most
fully represent the scope of his achievement in poetry. Gandlevsky, in
poet Chris Green's words, seems to have lived by poetry, as if it were a
raft to swim through the last twenty-five years of Soviet history.
Sergey Gandlevsky has published several books of poetry, a memoir,
and a book of essays in Russian. His work has been included in every
major anthology, including: 20th Century Russian Poetry: Silver and
Steel (Doubleday Press), and In the Grip of Strange Thoughts: Russian
Poetry in a New Era (Zephyr Press).
Philip Metres is a poet and translator of Russian poetry. His own
poetry appears in numerous journals, including Poetry, and in Best
American Poetry 2002. He teaches literature and creative writing at
John Carroll University.
