PUSHKIN, PASTERNAK, TSVETAEVA, PLATONOV...
at The Troubadour Cafe, 265 Old Brompton Road, SW5
Nov 26, 8.0 pm
Every Russian looks on Pushkin as their country¹s greatest national writer. Stanley Mitchell will read from his translation of Pushkin¹s greatest work, Evgeny Onegin:
The house is full; the boxes brilliant;
Parterre and stalls - all seethes and roars;
Up in the gods they clap, ebullient,
And, with a swish, the curtain soars.
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Angela Livingstone will read from both Pasternak and Tsvetaeva. Her translation of Tsvetaeva¹s The Ratcatcher is published by Angel Books:
Marry a piper? A naked bean!
In England perhaps -- but listen:
In Hamlin it¹s never been heard or seen
That people marry musicians.
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Joseph Brodsky looked on Andrey Platonov (1899-1951) as the equal of Joyce, Kafka or Proust. Robert Chandler, one of his translators, will read excerpts from stories and the unfinished novel ³Happy Moscow² (Harvill Press, 2001):
³Moscow Chestnova had been in the children¹s home for two years. It was here that she had been given a name, a surname and even a patronymic, since she had only the vaguest memory of her own name and early childhood. (...) She had been given a first name in honour of Moscow, a patronymic in memory of all the Ivans who had died in battle as ordinary Red Army soldiers, and a surname in recognition of the honesty of her heart -- which had not had time to become dishonest, in spite of long unhappiness.²
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Other readers include Tamar Yoseloff and P.D.Luczinski, who will be reading poems by Alexander Blok, Anna Akhmataova and Osip Mandelstam.
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The Troubadour Cafe is near the junction of Earls Court Road and Old Brompton Road. Tickets -- £5. Advance Booking -- 020-8354-0660
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