Various (Hollo, Anselm (Translator); Voznesensky, Andrei; Yevtushenko, Yevgeni et al.)

Red Cats

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1962. First Edition. “In the middle 50’s a number of Soviet writers started what became known as “The Thaw”: a movement towards freedom of personal literary and critical expression that has been going on ever since, in spite of several setbacks and sometimes heavily-worded official censure. YEVGENI YEVTUSHENKO and ANDREI VOZESENSKY, the two younger poets in this selection, came onto the literary scene during this period. SEYMON KIRSANOV has long represented the most genuinely progressive wing of Soviet Russian poetry, never losing touch with the international revolution in modern literature (the way many of his countrymen unfortunately have lost it, in the thickets of Social Realism or Romanticism). YEVGENI YEVTUSHENKO, now 28 years old, is the first Soviet poet since Mayakovsky who has the makings of a great public figure. In recent years he has traveled much abroad, as a mouthpiece for his own (and, we hope, his generation’s) brand of Individualistic Communism…Despite its comparatively narrow line-of-attack, his long poem “Babi Yar” expresses something of the poetic kinship Yevtushenko says he feels with Allen Ginsberg, the American poet he “loves best”: it is a moving indictment of racism in Russia and everywhere, and, by implication, all forms of oppression and intolerance.”--Anselm Hollo, pg 6. Offered today is a uniquely rare, and endlessly inspiring volume. Number 16 in the Pocket Poets Series by the ever illustrious City Lights Books (the San Francisco Mecca for all things Beat), Red Cats (1962) compiled by Anselm Hollo (1934–2013) is an incredible collection of poetry. Red Cats is a collection of Soviet poets who, as the back cover of this volume states, encapsulate the “Soviet Thaw” movement. Yevgeni Yevtushenko (1933–2017), Andrei Vozesensky (1933–2010), and Seymon Kirsanov (1906–1972), the poets in question, not only were radical poets pushing the boundaries of Soviet sensibilities, but also “produced some brilliant poems that raise them well above that disease called politics” as the back of this volume so puts it. Their works, as collective poetic “Iron Comrades,” distinctly moved away from the Social Realism and Romanticism that many Soviet poets of the time were mired in. Instead, the poets opted for a more Beat-adjacent, gritty, surrealism that bled with individualism and pathos. As a movement, the “Thaw” poets distanced themselves from the Stalin-era USSR and its brand of Social Realism and Communist Futurism, finding themselves traversing a poetic topography that the likes of Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), Charles Olson (1910–1970), and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021) had been mapping out throughout the 50’s and 60’s in America. Translated and composed by Anselm Hollo, Finnish poet and translator, Red Cats stands to be the ultimate collection of the “Thaw” poets best works. Hollo, as evidenced by his introduction, was very fond and, indeed, even inspired by the “Thaw” poets, making this volume a monument to their literary prowess. With points in Cook (Pocket Poet Series) pg 48; and (City Lights Descriptive Bibliography) 36, pg 38. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with the late, great John Sinclair [1941-2024]) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. Signed by previous owner (Robin Eichele) at title page in thin black ink. Softcover. First edition though not explicated as such, third printing as stated on back cover. Book is in relatively fine condition with only slight wear to fine edges and mild rubbing and browning to pages and front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #7155]

Price: $100.00