Les mémoires de Varlam Chalamov sur l'avant-garde soviétique des années 1920, rédigées en 1962, traduites pour la première fois en anglais.
Set in the heady atmosphere of revolutionary Moscow, The Twenties is the young poet and communist Varlam Shalamov's celebration of the new culture of the Revolution, the brave crazy brilliance of his generation of writers, the mass poetry readings, the boundless optimism and creativity. Shalamov writes of them all with the wonderful subtlety and empathy and humour that secured him his place with these dazzling new talents, and have made him known as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Unpublished when it was written in 1962, and until now barely discussed, this first English-language edition of The Twenties, translated, edited and introduced by Cathy Porter, is an exceptional document of the fantastic Soviet twenties from the author of Kolyma Tales.
Shalamov describes the eventful poetry readings of Mayakovsky, the debates of Alexander Voronsky, the lectures of Anatoly Lunacharsky, the collective performances of the Proletkult, and his meetings with Osip Brik and Sergey Tretyakov. He also writes about the tragedies of Boris Pilnyak, Isaac Babel, and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Longer portraits alternate with short sketches and snapshot images. Extraordinary Metropolitan Vvedensky, of the Living Church; Boris Yuzhanin, founder of the Blue Blouse Collective; Esenin's mentor, the peasant poet Nikolai Klyuev; anarchist turned RAPP ideologue Judah Grossmann; poet, improviser and occultist Boris Zubakin; Tatar poet and future Partisan Musa Jalil, and two hundred other exceptional characters. These recollections include also those of Larisa Reisner and Vera Inber, discussions with Boris Pasternak and a description of the "Down with Shame!"' nudist rally.
As Cathy Porter writes in her detailed introduction, Shalamov's twenties were "riveting, ridiculous, marvellous." The people that Shalamov remembers were "the crazy, brave, extraordinary stars of the new culture who make the work so unforgettable and moving."
With The Twenties, Rab-Rab Press introduces a new Shalamov, fused with revolutionary avant-garde dreams.
Varlam Shalamov (Varlam Tikhonovitch Chalamov, 1907-1982) est un écrivain, poète et dissident soviétique. Etudiant en droit dans les années 1920, il écrivait de la poésie et faisait partie de l'opposition de gauche ; il imprimait et distribuait illégalement des samizdats trotskistes anti-staliniens, ce qui lui valut d'être envoyé dans les camps de travail de la Kolyma. Il est surtout connu pour ses « Récits de la Kolyma », qui décrivent les épreuves inhumaines, les souffrances incroyables et les crimes monstrueux endurés au cours de ses vingt années passées au Goulag. Malgré cela, Shalamov ne rejoignit jamais les rangs des émigrés religieux anticommunistes de Soljenitsyne et refusa de se plier aux règles de la politique de la Guerre froide.
