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Maria Stepanova, one of Russia's greatest living poets, comes to America
- orthoxerox 6y agoTIL about Stepanova, presumably one of our greatest living poets. I took a look at her works, and like most modern poetry, they lack fluidity. I want the verse to glide off the tongue and into the ear and off the tongue again. And it's not just rhyme or rhythm that I am talking about, Stepanova herself is criticised for following the traditions of Russian poetry. Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen has a stumbling rhythm, the lines desperately trying to catch up to the expected rhyme. And yet it's a pleasure to read, while Stepanova's poetry is a chore.
- p1necone 6y agoI think rules in art, once established well enough will always begin to be broken consistently. Once that breaking of the rules becomes completely consistent again you will start to get back your fluidity from newly minted rule-breakers.
- AlexTWithBeard 6y agoAvant-garde poets used to say, that a modern poet should be free from any rules and restrictions except for one: write good poetry. The second part is often forgotten nowadays.
- Koshkin 6y agoSure, some find beauty even in ruins...
- kingsuper20 6y agoI think that's fair, but would like to add the concept that 99.9% of the 'new' art is shite. Over time, the court of public opinion will winnow out the few things worth keeping. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't hack out new territory, it's just that very little of it is of lasting value.
- murph-almighty 6y agoI think that's kind of the point- to try new techniques and find out what will stick. When I go to art museums and see an abstract piece that looks like garbage and I can't pull any meaning out of it, I try to see if there's something technical behind it (technique or material used, usually) that would explain its significance. I didn't get Andy Warhol's soup cans for the longest time til I realized that was how screen printing became popularized.
- eptcyka 6y agoAre you reading her poetry in Russian?
- orthoxerox 6y agoYes.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- versale 6y agoFor those who reads Russian this is the best her verse as rated at [1]. Утреннее солнце восходит утром – Столько соблазнительных вероятий! Что же ты, девка, ходишь по квартире, Тапками стуча, пятки печатая? Что тебе, голубка моя лебёдка? Поворотись-ка, сними последнее, В золотое зеркало полюбуйся, Это и то вперёд выдвигая. И чу! Я слышу глухое биенье. Тепло бокам и шея удлинилась. Ноги не радуют, но белым перьям Многие подруги позавидуют. Достаточно сделать движенье крылом – В животе ухает; паркет остался Далеко внизу; родные, простите, Пишите мне до востребования. – Бессмертная, навеки бессмертна я, Стиксу не быть для меня преградою! [1] https://readrate.com/rus/news/luchshie-sovremennye-russkie-stikhi https://readrate.com/rus/news/luchshie-sovremennye-russkie-s...
- tclover 6y agohm... So according to who she is "one of greatest"? My second question is how is this hacker news relevant?
- Ralfp 6y agoHacker News Guidelines What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- 1cvmask 6y agoAs relevant as Eddie Murphy Coming to America perhaps.
- azangru 6y ago> My second question is how is this hacker news relevant? And the third question is, how is she on the front page? Are there that many readers of Hacker News who are interested in contemporary Russian poetry?
- Koshkin 6y ago
- uzakov 6y agoThis is the first time I hear about Maria Stepanova, albeit I dont read as much of modern non-fictional/sci-fi literature in Russian
- anticodon 6y agoBefore opening the link I made a guess: "99.9% probability that she's in opposition to Russian government and that is the real reason for calling her "best Russian poet". Opened the article, wasn't disappointed. My guess was 100% correct. I also laughed at mention of "independent TV channel Dozhd". Independent, really? It's funded by British government to disseminate anti-Russian propaganda and create a dissent among population of Russia. I've never heard about Maria, but now I'm pretty sure that's her only literary achievement is critics of Russia present and past. It's the only thing that interests the West now and sells well on the West.
- cafard 6y agoA fairly substantial portion of the big names in Russian literature--going back to Pushkin, no?--have found themselves crossways with the government of their days. Judging poetry in translation I leave to the bolder, and I do not know Russian. But what you have said gives me no reason to suppose that she is not a good poet.
- euthuxnetux 6y agoThere are lots of great artists but popularity is somewhat controlled by a handful of gatekeepers. I'd tend to agree with anticodon's point that people that are elevated tend to be in line with the agenda of those gatekeepers.
- lovelyviking 6y agoWhen I saw this link here I've made special effort to find her words condemning occupation of Ukraine including Crimea and didn't find it anywhere. So perhaps she is not too much of "crossways with the government". If I've missed it somehow, please share the link.
- 6y ago
- slackfan 6y agoI love the shameless promotion.
- FpUser 6y agoLooked at her poetry. Obviously I am not an expert in the area but being well read I think I am sane enough to see that calling her "the greatest" is based on anything but value of her writings. To me her style could be summarized by the following verse: Я поэт, зовусь я Цветик От меня вам балалайка
- lovelyviking 6y agomy thoughts exactly. No rythm, nothing fascinating. Looks like her "big name" is result of good connections in proper circles.
- yostrovs 6y agoMost of art seems to have gone this way. Contemporary art museums are full of random nonsense few people find any pleasure in, anything to be curious about, or anything to become excited by. So much architecture is just ugly, like some kind of experiments gone bad. It's pretty depressing that people accept that there's something there, while they themselves can't see it. They trust the experts, be it experts in architecture, art, or poetry. The result is crap that can't hold up to stuff created 300 years ago, but that still gets recognized as work if genius. Example: Beeple's art has sold for more than any Rafael.
- cableshaft 6y agoI really misread this at first and thought it said Maria Sharapova, and was curious if the tennis star had gotten into poetry (and why not, she has her own candy line). Was all set to read poems about aces and faults and volleys.
- Koshkin 6y agoNot surprising at all. Wikipedia is also "confused": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Stepanova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Stepanova
- rusabd 6y agoThis is ironic that this story is posted by @lermontov who is actually one the greatest Russian poets. She is not.
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoI believe the term is eponysterical https://maxdesign.com.au/news/eponysterical/ https://maxdesign.com.au/news/eponysterical/