Part of Speech [Hardcover]

Joseph Brodsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1980

A Part of Speech contains poems from the years 1965-1978, translated by various hands.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 151 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st edition (June 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374229872
• ISBN-13: 978-0374229870
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradise, Plus Brodsky's Books, February 14, 2010

By 

Basil Lenkov "sriyantramaster" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Part of Speech (Paperback)

There are approximately 150 pages of poems written by Russian born winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Joseph Brodsky. I have bought a Russian edition A Part of Speech many years ago and I was especially interested in English to read and compare. I am not keen on reading poetry every day but every time it happens something beautiful remains in the soul and helps working anywhere, ... mathematics, for example.
The Russian edition A Part of Speech (a small cycle inside the book with the same title) I have read was printed in 2004, I guess without compiling by will of the author. So, it's a question: is there a difference? Frankly, be ready for a little surprise. There are fifteen poems in English text (184 line,1977) and twenty poems in Russian (244 lines). I believe that Russian publishers had their reasons to add five poems, but I believe to my heart too wishing to know what the poet had been created in 1977. And I said myself: `You lucky guy today, you will know what HE felt when HE wrote exactly'.
Maybe fifteen minutes I thought it is a bit uncomfortable to read a Russian poet in English when you have opportunity to read in both languages. Now, I think I feel myself very well learning original composition of lines, feelings, and heart's vibrations of author.
In Russian St. Petersburg (city the poet was born) middle aged men have a joke: `If you are 40 years old, you got up in the morning and you don't feel any pain, any hurt -- you are in the Paradise yet'. Many years I live in `the Paradise'. Plus Brodsky's books.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book every "Russian-soul" person should have!, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Part of Speech (Paperback)

A genius poems by Nobel Prize winner Russian poet J. Brodsky will lead you through the magic of words, ideas, and wolrd experience. Brodsky united in his poetry the brightest thoughts and deepest emotions of The Russian Personality. This is a strongly recomended book for everyone who is trying to understand the mystery of "Russian soul".