Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism (European Classics) [Paperback]

Eugene Ostashevsky (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2006

It was a movement so artfully anarchic, and so quickly suppressed, that readers only began to discover its strange and singular brilliance three decades after it was extinguished-and then only in samizdat and émigré publications. Some called it the last of the Russian avant-garde, and others called it the first (and last) instance of Absurdism in Russia; however difficult to classify, it was OBERIU (from an acronym standing for The Union of Real Art), and the pleasures of its poetry and prose are, with this volume, at long last fully open to English-speaking readers.

This anthology includes the work of three writers, Alexander Vvedensky, Daniil Kharms, and Nikolai Zabolotsky, who, between 1927 and 1930, made up the core of OBERIU, and of three others, Nikolai Oleinikov, Leonid Lipavsky, and Yakov Druskin, who, although not members of OBERIU, worked in the same vein. Skillfully translated to preserve the weird charm of the originals, these poems and prose pieces display all the hilarity and tragedy, the illogical action and puppetlike violence and eroticism, and the hallucinatory intensity that brought down the wrath of the Soviet censors. Today they offer an uncanny reflection of the distorted reality they reject.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The three writers of OBERIU, a group active between 1927 and 1930, were all persecuted by Stalin: Alexander Vvedensky died on a prison train in 1941, Daniil Kharms died of starvation in a prison psychiatric hospital in 1942, and Nikolai Zabolotsky spent eight years in exile, despite having produced Stalinist verse "of unprecedented quality." Editor Ostashevsky, himself a poet (Iterature; Infinite Recursor, or the Bride of DJ Spinoza) introduces the three as "sometimes described as Russia's last avant-garde"-since the pressure from Stalin was all-seeing and unrelenting. He includes three poets not part of the group but associated with it: Nikolai Oleinikov, Leonid Lipavsky and Yakov Druskin, and the result is a representative collection of a major movement (from which, as Ostashevsky points out, a great deal of work has been lost or destroyed), much of it translated for the first time by Ostashevsky and Matvei Yankelevich (The Present Work). For anyone interested in Soviet literature, this book fills an enormous gap. It also presents some beautiful, heartbreaking poetry.
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Review

"OBERIU, sometimes called Russia's last avant-garde, is one of the most intriguing--and little known--movements of the years before World War II. The absurdist poets at its center--Alexander Vvedensky, Daniil Kharms, and Nikolai Zabolotsky--belonged to the first generation of writers to come of age after the October Revolution and hence stand apart from their Futurist predecessors. Less interested in coining neologisms than in destroying the protocols of semantic coherence and linguistic realism, these poets have produced a series of inventive, free-wheeling, and often hilarious poetic texts in a variety of forms and genres. This anthology, the first large-scale English translation of OBERIU poetry, has been superbly edited and translated by the Russo-American poet Eugene Ostashevsky and his colleagues. In avant-garde annals, this is a milestone." -- Marjorie Perloff

"The OBERIU writers are a revelation, an aspect of Russian modernism in the early Soviet period that has been largely invisible to readers in English, and these translations are brilliant, as nervy and funny and demotic as if the work were written in an inspired English in the first place." -- Robert Hass

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1st edition (August 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810122936
• ISBN-13: 978-0810122932
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars biased, but proud, February 18, 2007

By 

Matvei E. Yankelevich "Yan Kilevich" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism (European Classics) (Paperback)

The OBERIU anthology, put together with great care and sound scholarship by Eugene Ostashevsky, is an important publication, if only because much of the materials translated therein are published for the English reader for the very first time. As one of the co-translators of this anthology, I won't speak to the quality of the translations, though I think they are at least a sincere and valiant effort to bring into English a most complicated group of Russian writings from the early Soviet period.

Some important information about the anthology is missing from the general Amazon description:

First of all, the anthology is EDITED by Eugene Ostashevsky. But the authors of the works included in Northwestern Univ. Press's "OBERIU" Anthology are:
1. Daniil Kharms (poet, playwright, prose-miniaturist)
2. Alexander Vvedensky (considered the most radical poet of the group)
3. Nikolai Zabolotsky (poet)
4. Leonid Lipavsky (philosopher)
5. Nikolai Oleinikov (poet)
6. Iakov Druskin (philosopher, music theorist, theologian)

Some of the original members of the Oberiu group (founded in 1928) whose texts were not included in the anthology are:
1. the poet and revered prose-modernist Konstantin Vaginov
2. and the poet Igor Bakhterev (the youngest member of the group)

I hope this short comment will help those who are interested in the works of the so-called OBERIU writers (or Russian Absurdists as they are sometimes referred to), find out more about these audacious artists, unique thinkers, and innovative writers.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great teaching tool, December 4, 2006

By 

Kendra Deganhardt "KJD" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism (European Classics) (Paperback)

I used this to introduce Russian absurdism to my creative writing class, and they loved it. The variety of styles here--poetry, play, prose, short-short, dialogue--make it great for teaching form, as well as introducing any literarure or creative class to the genre of Russian absurdism. The introduction, written by NYU Lit. professor Eugene Ostashevsky, is a very clear (but not dumbed down) explanation of the Oberiu movement, their purpose and place in Russian history--if, like me, you're not qualified to explain it to students yourself. Also, the selection and pieces here are great. The Kharms especially. I'd never read Alexander Vvedensky before and now he's one of my favorite writers. (Check out "A Certain Quantity of Conversations," which is a brilliant play, of sorts, in ten mini-acts). I'd rec. this book for anyone who's a writer (great for inspiration) or teacher. Or who just wants to read something different and hilarious.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderous stuff, October 30, 2006

By 

J. Catalano (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism (European Classics) (Paperback)

I must admit, I'm baffled by the lack of publicity for this extraordinary book. I mean, not a peep. So I've taken it upon myself to copy the following quotes from its back cover:

"OBERIU, sometimes called Russia's last avant-garde, is one of the most intriguing and little-known movements of the years before World War II. The absurdist poets at its center--Alexander Vvedensky, Daniil Kharms, and Nikolai Zabolotsky--belonged to the first generation of writers to come of age after the October Revolution and hence stand apart from their futurist predecessors. Less interested in coining neologisms than in `destroying the protocols of semantic coherence and linguistic realism,' these poets have produced a series of inventive, freewheeling, and often hilarious poetic texts in a variety of forms and genres. This anthology, the first large-scale English translation of OBERIU poetry, has been superbly edited and translated by the Russo-American poet Eugene Ostashevsky and his colleagues. In avant-garde annals, this is a milestone."--Marjorie Perloff

"The OBERIU writers are a revelation, an aspect of Russian modernism in the early Soviet period that has been largely invisible to readers in English, and these translations are brilliant, as nervy and funny and demotic as if the work were written in an inspired English in the first place."--Robert Hass