Three Russian Poets. Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev. In New Translations by ...
New York, New Directions Books, 1944.
Octavo, 38, [2] (publisher's advertisement, colophon) pages.
Grey papered boards printed in brown on the front cover; light wear to the extremities; uneven sunning and a couple of light marks to the front cover; a very good copy.
One of the publisher's 1943 Series of 'The Poets of the Year'. The two pages of biographical notes by Nabokov at the rear are instructive and entertaining, as the last few sentences regarding Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) attest. 'When about fifty he had a pathetic liaison which lasted until his mistress' death in 1864. Politically he was a rather smug conservative with Slavophile leanings and a sentimental fondness for permanently anointed Tsardom. The batch of poems inspired by his political views makes rather painful reading. On the other hand, his short lyrics belong to the greatest ever written in Russian'.
Item #122373
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