Sunday, April 11, 2010

“a splended time for poetry”

Evgeny Bunimovich on the change in fortune for poets in Russia after the fall of the Soviet government:

“I think this is a splendid time for poetry. The prestige which writers formerly enjoyed has largely disappeared, and the prestige of poets most of all. As a result, only those who truly need to write poetry still do so. Today you can’t build a career as a poet, or gratify your ego, or make a political statement. You produce a text, and that’s it.”

Yup, no more poets filling stadiums or being celebrated for standing up to the propaganda. Just you & your poem. Kinda like here.

source: Crossing Centuries: the new generation in Russian poetry, edited by John High, et al.

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