Stolen Air: Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam

I have been reading the poems of Osip Mandelstam in translation since I first encountered him through Nadezhda Mandelstam's magnificent memoir, Hope Against Hope, in 1970. Many very fine poets have produced fine versions in English of the poems and prose of the most amazing Russian poet of modern times--one is tempted to say, certainly one of the most amazing poets, period. W.S. Merwin and Clarence Brown, James Green, Sidney Monas, Bernard Meares, and others have helped make him available to those of us with limited or no Russian.Now we have Christian Wiman and Ilya Kaminsky's magnificent Stolen Air: Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam. I do not mean in any way to denigrate the achievements of the other poets and translators, but only to say that Wiman and Kaminsky have created a truly great book, a work of power and poetry that brings Mandelstam to us (that in itself is a great achievement), offering him to us in the form of English poems that stand with the best of modern poetry--not just of translations (of which we are privileged in our time to have many that achieve greatness as translation--from Daniel Mendelsohn, John Ashbery, Richard Howard, to name only a few) but great poetry. For anyone who values Mandelstam, for anyone who cares at all about poetry, Wiman's volume is essential. Read it however you can, buy it if you can. You will treasure it.

I wrote out a longer version of this review with quotes from a number of the poems. I ditched it. The whole is so much better than the tease of passages. Every poem in this book is great. And sometimes, maybe often, Wiman's versions of Mandelstam's poems are absolutely stunning. I say "Wiman's versions" because many of these are more than just translations. They are English language versions of Mandelstam's poems created with license to give the feeling of Mandelstam instead of the precise words of Mandelstam. I like Wiman's own poetry as well, but I do not find that these poems are close in style to Wiman's own poetry. He and his muses have achieved an amazing volume of poetry. I am giving copies of this book to children and grandchildren, something I almost never do. They are that good.

Book arrived in beautiful condition as promised. A really lovingly made book of poetry, as a poetry book should be. And what a privilege to be able to experience the beauty that can come from a searching mind when the world around is mad. An enormous debt to Christian Wiman for that. My favorite - The Necklace.

These translations are beautiful and memorable. I have no idea how faithful they are to the original. But the mind for images and sounds is definitely not missing. Its also good (though disturbing) to read some of Mandelstam's later poems, right before his untimely death at the hands of the criminally insane.

Great poet

Gorgeous poetry ... and an exceptional translator to match. A must buy for anyone who appreciates poetry.

One of the best Russian poets, murdered for his muse

No comments.

One of the great international poets superbly translated.It is probably a good idea to read these poems in tandem with the other current translations such as the NYRB collection; it becomes obvious on doing this how the nuanced, strange, oblique text can be translated in very different ways. Mandelstam's work clearly reflects the Soviet Union's tragedy.Strangely joyful.

Not the best translation by a mile. Ho hum rather than BOOM-shakalaka. Earlier translations are much better.

Tem um caráter artesanal na encadernação. Mas é uma edição excelente.Pena não ser bilíngue. De qualquer forma são ótimas traduções.Sobre a entrega, houve postergação em duas ocasiões. Sendo assim, chegou quase um mês após a data original. Porém, todas as postergações forma informadas previamente pela Amazon.

beautifully printed on what apears like hand made paper.

impecvcable