George Reavey (1907–1976)

The stories and excerpts in this collection, as a rule, are not particularly good. However, the collection of excerpts, as well as the analysis, the criticism and poetry sections, collectively paint a picture of the Soviet literary scene across the 20s and early 30s.

Välavvägt urval.

Reavey's remarkable foresight is shown by the fact that the anthology ends with seven poems by Brodsky, then in his mid-20s and condemned to hard labor after his famous 1964 trial for "parasitism"; in the introduction Reavey says: "Iosif Brodsky is perhaps the strangest and most isolated of the poets. In a sense, everything is still ahead for him..." Indeed, including a Nobel Prize and poetic immortality.