The Voice Over

2021 is the year of Stepanova. * The Guardian * Stepanova's voice is a multipotent anthology of epic, lyric, and pure spell. She turns myth back into memory, heroes into humans, and her countrys rush from one catastrophe to another into language. No translator who reads Stepanova's work thinks, I can do this. This is a book prepared by people who believed in a poetic miracle and this miracle happenedto the English language above all. -- Valzhyna Mort, author of <i>Music for the Dead and Resurrected</i> A volume of Maria Stepanovas work in English translation is long overdue, but this one, rendered by a dream team of the best translators and poets working today, has been worth the wait. The Voice Over offers a worthy tribute to Stepanovas multiple achievements: a rich selection of texts from Stepanovas poetry and translations of Stepanovas essays, both illuminated by Irina Shevelenkos expert introduction and commentary, framing Stepanovas writing with sophistication and insight. -- Kevin M. F. Platt, founder of Your Language My Ear translation symposium Maria Stepanova is among the most visible figures in post-Soviet culture. * Los Angeles Review of Books * [Stepanova's] work is defined by fluent phrases expressing complex thoughts, the fusing of different styles, a carefree command of all possible metrical feet, and a great sense of empathy. * Poetry International * Stepanovas brilliance is matched only by her legendary difficulty. Rather than write in free verse, she sticks to the metric strictures of classic syllabotonic Russian poetry and fills traditional forms with a dizzying mix of references and registers, drawing on everything from Slavic folklore to social media. * Poetry Magazine * Stepanova is finally receiving the attention she deserves in the Anglophone world. Subtle and erudite in its treatment of politics and history, her work is a much-needed antidote to the crude depictions of Russia that have filled the English-language media in recent years. * Harper's Magazine * Each book [The Voice Over, In Memory of Memory, and War of the Beasts and the Animals] casts light on the others, revealing overlapping themes. Their simultaneous appearance gives English-speaking readers a singular opportunity to become familiar with a major Russian poet and thinker. * Times Literary Supplement * This ambitious collection provides English-language readers with a systematic introduction to the work of one of Russias most important contemporary poets . . . [The] explicit discussion of translation strategies within the volume will give readers a great deal to think about and highlights current trends and points of debate in literary translation. The translations included in this volume are of very high quality and might together make a wonderful primer for a course in literary translation. * World Literature Today * An exceptional introduction to [Stepanova's] work, the product of intensive collaboration, creative endeavour, and serious scholarship . . . essential reading for anybody interested in poetry today and in contemporary Russian culture. * Translation and Literature *

Maria Stepanova is the author of over ten poetry collections as well as three books of essays and the documentary novel In Memory of Memory. She is the recipient of several Russian and international literary awards. Irina Shevelenko is professor of Russian in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of WisconsinMadison. With translations by: Alexandra Berlina, Sasha Dugdale, Sibelan Forrester, Amelia Glaser, Zachary Murphy King, Dmitry Manin, Ainsley Morse, Eugene Ostashevsky, Andrew Reynolds, and Maria Vassileva.

Preface Bibliographic Note Introduction. Speaking in Voices: On Maria Stepanovas Literary Creation, by Irina Shevelenko Part I: The Here-World A Gypski, a Polsk I, a Jewski, a Russki The North of sleep. Heads in a pillow cradle Ahoy! Beyond the azures tempest Adieu, until one branched floor higher For you, but the voice of the straitened Muse The Bride The Pilot The morning sun arises in the morning As Dana, prone in the incarce-chamber It is certainly time to stop Even bluer than the toilet tiles (a birthday on the train) (half an hour on foot) July 3rd, 2004 The Womens Locker Room at Planet Fitness Sarah on the Barricades The Desire to Be a Rib Bus Stop: Israelitischer Friedhof Zoo, Woman, Monkey Part II: Displaced Person And a vo-vo-voice arose In the festive sky, impassivable, tinfurled Saturday and Sunday burn like stars In every little park, in every little square Mom-pop didnt know him Mama, what janitor A train rides down entire Russia Ordnance was weeping in the open The A went past, Tram-Traum Well I dont sing Kupitye papirosn The light swells and pulses at the garden gate In the village, in the field, in the forest A deer, a deer stood in that place The last songs are assembling My dear, my little Liberty There he lies in his new bed, a band of paper round his head Dont wait for us, my darling Dont strain your sight Four Operas In Unheard-of Simplicity Displaced Person Part III: Spolia Spolia War of the Beasts and the Animals Today Before Yesterday (excerpt) After the Dead Water Intending to Live At the Door of a Notnew Age Part IV: Over Venerable Graves The Maximum Cost of Living (Marina Tsvetaeva) Conversations in the Realm of the Dead (Lyubov Shaporina) What Alice Found There (Alisa Poret) The Last Hero (Susan Sontag) From That Side: Notes on Sebald Over Venerable Graves Notes