Review by Choice Review
The title of this volume perfectly embodies its focus: Shrayer (Boston College) returns Bagritskii to his place in the pantheon of 20th-century Russian poets and probes the complex issue of Russian-Jewish identity. Like Isaac Babel, Bagritskii embraced the Revolution, only to find his hopes for Jewish coexistence dashed by Soviet antisemitism. The theme of Jewish identity haunts Bagritskii's work as poignantly as it does Babel's. Shrayer first places Bagritskii's legacy within Soviet and post-Soviet aesthetic and ideological contexts and introduces his work to Western readers. He then presents his own sensitive translations of "Origin" and the late masterpiece "February" (followed by the Russian texts). These translations allow the reader to probe the questions Shrayer addresses in his subsequent discussion. Shrayer leaves no facet of Bagritskii's production unexplored, treating the historic issue of Jewish self-hatred, Bagritskii's Silver Age roots, the "Judaic" theme in his work, and the present climate of Russian antisemitism--the last indelibly rendered in an excerpted interview with the ultranationalist writer Stanislav Kuniaev, who describes Bagritskii as "incompatible with Russian culture." The immediacy of this interview and Shrayer's stance as a Russian poet lend authority to this eloquent volume. Scholars of Russian and Jewish literature and readers of poetry will welcome Shrayer's presentation of Bagritskii to Western readers. N. Tittler; SUNY at Binghamton
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
