VLADIMIR MAJAKOVSKIJ, O TOM
Vladimir Remes [essay]
Vladimir Remes [essay]: VLADIMIR MAJAKOVSKIJ, O TOM. Prague: Mlada Fronta, 1987. First edition. Text in Czech. A very good soft cover book with thick printed wrappers and minor shelf wear including slight rubbing to the white cover. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.
8.25 x 11.75 scarce soft cover book with 92 pages and 32 illustrations, some in color. Russian translation of "O Tom" by poet Jiri Taufer; all other poetry translated by Milan Dvorak.
Majakovskij started out as an artist and graphic designer before becoming a famous poet. The illustrations included with his poems mirror Mayakovsky¹s restless nature, a man capable of many personae, but only one kind of art -- outstanding. Includes a great deal of work by Alexander Rodchenko ( the set of Rodchenko¹s photomontages from "About This," 1923), but also by El Lissitzky and Gustav Klucis among others.
Vladimir Mayakovsky [born Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky, 1893 - 1930] was a Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist and stage and film actor. He is among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian and Cubo-Futurism.
The relevance of Mayakovsky's influence cannot be limited to Soviet poetry. While for years he was considered the Soviet poet par excellence, he also changed the perceptions of poetry in wider 20th century culture. His political activism as a propagandistic agitator was rarely understood and often looked upon unfavourably by contemporaries, even close friends like Boris Pasternak. Near the end of the 1920s, Mayakovsky became increasingly disillusioned with the course the Soviet Union was taking under Joseph Stalin: his satirical plays The Bedbug (1929) and The Bathhouse (1930), which deal with the Soviet philistinism and bureaucracy, illustrate this development.