The man who brought Brodsky into English : conversations with George L. Kline / Cynthia L. Haven.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haven, Cynthia L., author.

Series:

Jews of Russia & Eastern Europe and their legacy.

Jews of Russia & Eastern Europe and their legacy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kline, George L. (George Louis), 1921-2014--Interviews.

Kline, George L.

Brodsky, Joseph, 1940-1996.

Brodsky, Joseph.

Translators--United States--Interviews.

Translators.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages).

Place of Publication:

Brookline, MA : Academic Studies Press, [2021]

Summary:

Brodsky’s poetic career in the West was launched when Joseph Brodsky: Selected Poems was published in 1973. Its translator was a scholar and war hero, George L. Kline. This is the story of that friendship and collaboration, from its beginnings in 1960s Leningrad and concluding with the Nobel poet's death in 1996.Kline translated more of Brodsky’s poems than any other single person, with the exception of Brodsky himself. The Bryn Mawr philosophy professor and Slavic scholar was a modest and retiring man, but on occasion he could be as forthright and adamant as Brodsky himself. “Akhmatova discovered Brodsky for Russia, but I discovered him for the West,” he claimed.Kline’s interviews with author Cynthia L. Haven before his death in 2015 include a description of his first encounter with Brodsky, the KGB interrogations triggered by their friendship, Brodsky's emigration, and the camaraderie and conflict over translation. When Kline called Brodsky in London to congratulate him for the Nobel, the grateful poet responded, “And congratulations to you, too, George!”

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction: To Please Two Shadows

1. A Love Affair with Language

2. The Leningrad Poet and “a gift fit for a king”

3. Did the KGB Defend Russian Poetry?

4. The Poet in Exile: “I’ll live out my days . . .”

5. The “Good Lexicon” Rule

6. Kline Takes up the Gauntlet

7. A Lullaby, a Butterfly, and an Untranslatable Poem

8. “What did you do in World War II?”

9. Poems by Joseph Brodsky, Translated by George L. Kline

10. “In Memory of a Poet: Variation on a Theme” by Tomas Venclova

11. Occasional Poems: George Kline, Joseph Brodsky

12. A Bibliography of George Kline’s Translations of Joseph Brodsky’s Poems

13. George L. Kline Chronology

Afterword

Acknowledgements

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-64469-516-2

1-64469-515-4

OCLC:

1195816935