Subject
Re: VN & Sentiment (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Many pre-1925 VN Russian poems would fail a
"Sentimentality Litmus Paper Test." For an interesting study of two
brilliant prose writers who were (mostly) indifferent youthful poets, see
Galya Diments essay on VN and James Joyce.
--------------------
I cannot resist throwing another poem into the pot. It's an early poem,
1920, so we do need to bear in mind that VN is only 21 here:
Ia bez slez ne mogu/tebia videt', vesna/Vot stoiu na lugu/da i plachu
navzryd (I cannot observe you without tears, o spring. Here I stand in the
meadow and sob heavily).
Sentimental? You bet! Constantly tearful Sterne in the _Sentimental
Journey_ was probably, overall, less melodramatic than that, and a blind
test would probably reveal that the majority on this list, had they not
known the author, would suggest that the poem is a classic example of
"poshlost." So, do we just write it off as juvenalia -- or is there more
to it than that? In his later life, as we all know, VN was very proud of
his "Swallow" (also known as the "Swift") poem. I suspect that, like
Joyce, he did have different criteria for excessive "emoting" in poetry
and prose -- but that does not explain it all away either.
Galya Diment
"Sentimentality Litmus Paper Test." For an interesting study of two
brilliant prose writers who were (mostly) indifferent youthful poets, see
Galya Diments essay on VN and James Joyce.
--------------------
I cannot resist throwing another poem into the pot. It's an early poem,
1920, so we do need to bear in mind that VN is only 21 here:
Ia bez slez ne mogu/tebia videt', vesna/Vot stoiu na lugu/da i plachu
navzryd (I cannot observe you without tears, o spring. Here I stand in the
meadow and sob heavily).
Sentimental? You bet! Constantly tearful Sterne in the _Sentimental
Journey_ was probably, overall, less melodramatic than that, and a blind
test would probably reveal that the majority on this list, had they not
known the author, would suggest that the poem is a classic example of
"poshlost." So, do we just write it off as juvenalia -- or is there more
to it than that? In his later life, as we all know, VN was very proud of
his "Swallow" (also known as the "Swift") poem. I suspect that, like
Joyce, he did have different criteria for excessive "emoting" in poetry
and prose -- but that does not explain it all away either.
Galya Diment