Maria Stepanova is one of the most powerful and distinctive voices of Russia's first post-Soviet literary generation. An award-winning poet and prose writer, she has also founded a major platform for independent journalism. Her verse blends formal mastery with a keen ear for the evolution of spoken language. As Russia's political climate has turned increasingly repressive, Stepanova has responded with engaged writing that grapples with the persistence of violence in her country's past and present. Some of her most remarkable recent work as a poet and essayist considers the conflict in Ukraine and the debasement of language that has always accompanied war. *The Voice Over* brings together two decades of Stepanova's work, showcasing her range, virtuosity, and creative evolution. Stepanova's poetic voice constantly sets out in search of new bodies to inhabit, taking established forms and styles and rendering them into something unexpected and strange. Recognizable patterns... Maria Stepanova is one of the most powerful and distinctive voices of Russia's first post-Soviet literary generation. An award-winning poet and prose writer, she has also founded a major platform for independent journalism. Her verse blends formal mastery with a keen ear for the evolution of spoken language. As Russia's political climate has turned increasingly repressive, Stepanova has responded with engaged writing that grapples with the persistence of violence in her country's past and present. Some of her most remarkable recent work as a poet and essayist considers the conflict in Ukraine and the debasement of language that has always accompanied war. The Voice Over brings together two decades of Stepanova's work, showcasing her range, virtuosity, and creative evolution. Stepanova's poetic voice constantly sets out in search of new bodies to inhabit, taking established forms and styles and rendering them into something unexpected and strange. Recognizable patterns of ballads, elegies, and war songs are transposed into a new key, infused with foreign strains, and juxtaposed with unlikely neighbors. As an essayist, Stepanova engages deeply with writers who bore witness to devastation and dramatic social change, as seen in searching pieces on W. G. Sebald, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Susan Sontag. Including contributions from ten translators, The Voice Over shows English-speaking readers why Stepanova is one of Russia's most acclaimed contemporary writers. Maria Stepanova is the author of over ten poetry collections as well as three books of essays and the documentary novel In Memory of Memory. She is the recipient of several Russian and international literary awards. Irina Shevelenko is professor of Russian in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With translations by: Alexandra Berlina, Sasha Dugdale, Sibelan Forrester, Amelia Glaser, Zachary Murphy King, Dmitry Manin, Ainsley Morse, Eugene Ostashevsky, Andrew Reynolds, and Maria Vassileva.
THE VOICE OVER
RUSSIAN LIBRARY
The Russian Library at Columbia University Press publishes an expansive selection of Russian literature in English translation, concentrating on works previously unavailable in English and those ripe for new translations. Works of premodern, modern, and contemporary literature are featured, including recent writing. The series seeks to demonstrate the breadth, surprising variety, and global importance of the Russian literary tradition and includes not only novels but also short stories, plays, poetry, memoirs, creative nonfiction, and works of mixed or fluid genre.
Editorial Board:
Vsevolod Bagno
Dmitry Bak
Rosamund Bartlett
Caryl Emerson
Peter B. Kaufman
Mark Lipovetsky
Oliver Ready
Stephanie Sandler
For a list of books in the series, see page 307
Published with the support of Read Russia, Inc.,
and the Institute of Literary Translation, Russia
Columbia University Press
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2021 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
EISBN 978-0-231-55168-7
Poems “Bus Stop: Israelitischer Friedhof,” “The light swells and
pulses at the garden gate,” “In the village, in the field, in the
forest,” “A deer, a deer stood in that place,” “The last songs are
assembling,” “Don’t wait for us, my darling,”
2021). Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books, www.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stepanova, Marii︠a︡, author. | Shevelenko, Irina, editor.
Title: The voice over : poems and essays / Maria Stepanova ; edited
by Irina Shevelenko.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2021] |
Series: Russian library
Identifiers: LCCN 2020044582 (print) | LCCN 2020044583 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231196161 (hardback ; acid-free paper) |
ISBN 9780231196178 (trade paperback ; acid-free paper) |
ISBN 9780231551687 (ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Poetry. | Essays.
Classification: LCC PG3488.T4755 A2 2021 (print) |
LCC PG3488.T4755 (ebook) | DDC 891.71/5–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044582
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044583
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-ebook@columbia.edu.
Cover design: Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
CONTENTS
PART I: THE HERE-WORLD
from
A Gypski, a Polsk I, a Jewski, a Russki
The North of sleep. Head’s in a pillow cradle
from
Ahoy! Beyond the azure’s tempest
For you, but the voice of the straitened Muse
from
The Bride
The Pilot
from
The morning sun arises in the morning
As Danaë, prone in the incarce-chamber
It is certainly time to stop
Even bluer than the toilet tiles
(a birthday on the train)
(half an hour on foot)
from
July 3rd, 2004
1. I’ll now make a couple of
2. Doctors, lectors and actors, young widows
The Women’s Locker Room at Planet Fitness
Sarah on the Barricades
1. The year nineteen-oh-five
2. Of all those lying in the earth, foreheads tossed back
The Desire to Be a Rib
1. Me and myself, we’re uneasy, like a lady with her pitbull
2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bus Stop: Israelitischer Friedhof
from
Zoo, Woman, Monkey
PART II: DISPLACED PERSON
from
And a vo-vo-voice arose
In the festive sky, impassivable, tinfurled
Saturday and Sunday burn like stars
In every little park, in every little square
from
from the cycle
Mom-pop didn’t know him
Mama, what janitor
A train is riding over Russia
Ordnance was weeping in the open
The A went past, Tram-Traum
Well I don’t sing
from the cycle
The light swells and pulses at the garden gate
In the village, in the field, in the forest
A deer, a deer stood in that place
The last songs are assembling
from the cycle
My dear, my little Liberty
There he lies in his new bed, a band of paper round his head
Don’t wait for us, my darling
Don’t strain your sight
Four Operas
1. Carmen
2. Aida
