The Voice Over

THE VOICE OVER

RUSSIAN LIBRARY

The Russian Library at Columbia University Press publishes an expansive selection of Russian literature in English translation, concentrating on works previously unavailable in English and those ripe for new translations. Works of premodern, modern, and contemporary literature are featured, including recent writing. The series seeks to demonstrate the breadth, surprising variety, and global importance of the Russian literary tradition and includes not only novels but also short stories, plays, poetry, memoirs, creative nonfiction, and works of mixed or fluid genre.

 

Editorial Board:

Vsevolod Bagno

Dmitry Bak

Rosamund Bartlett

Caryl Emerson

Peter B. Kaufman

Mark Lipovetsky

Oliver Ready

Stephanie Sandler

For a list of books in the series, see page 307

Published with the support of Read Russia, Inc.,

and the Institute of Literary Translation, Russia

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893

New York Chichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright © 2021 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

EISBN 978-0-231-55168-7

Poems “Bus Stop: Israelitischer Friedhof,” “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,” “Don’t wait for us, my darling,” Spolia, and War of the

Beasts and the Animals from Maria Stepanova, War of the Beasts

and the Animals, translated by Sasha Dugdale (Bloodaxe Books,

2021). Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books, www.

bloodaxebooks.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Stepanova, Marii︠a︡, author. | Shevelenko, Irina, editor.

Title: The voice over : poems and essays / Maria Stepanova ; edited

by Irina Shevelenko.

Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2021] |

Series: Russian library

Identifiers: LCCN 2020044582 (print) | LCCN 2020044583 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780231196161 (hardback ; acid-free paper) |

ISBN 9780231196178 (trade paperback ; acid-free paper) |

ISBN 9780231551687 (ebook)

Subjects: LCGFT: Poetry. | Essays.

Classification: LCC PG3488.T4755 A2 2021 (print) |

LCC PG3488.T4755 (ebook) | DDC 891.71/5–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044582

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044583

A Columbia University Press E-book.

CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].

Cover design: Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich

CONTENTS

Preface

Bibliographic Note

Introduction. “Speaking in Voices”: On Maria Stepanova’s Literary Creation, by Irina Shevelenko

PART I: THE HERE-WORLD

fromOn Twins

A Gypski, a Polsk I, a Jewski, a Russki

The North of sleep. Head’s in a pillow cradle

fromThe Here-World

Adieu, until one branched floor higher

Ahoy! Beyond the azure’s tempest

For you, but the voice of the straitened Muse

fromSongs of the Northern Southerners

The Bride

The Pilot

fromHappiness

The morning sun arises in the morning

As Danaë, 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)

fromPhysiology and Private History

July 3rd, 2004

1. I’ll now make a couple of

2. Doctors, lectors and actors, young widows

The Women’s Locker Room at Planet Fitness

Sarah on the Barricades

1. The year nineteen-oh-five

2. Of all those lying in the earth, foreheads tossed back

The Desire to Be a Rib

1. Me and myself, we’re uneasy, like a lady with her pitbull

2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bus Stop: Israelitischer Friedhof

fromO

Zoo, Woman, Monkey

PART II: DISPLACED PERSON

fromThe Lyric, the Voice

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

fromKireevsky

from the cycleYoung Maids Sing

Translator’s Note by Eugene Ostashevsky

Mom-pop didn’t know him

Mama, what janitor

A train is riding over Russia

Ordnance was weeping in the open

The A went past, Tram-Traum

Well I don’t sing Kupitye papirosn

from the cycleKireevsky

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

from the cycleUnderground Pathephone

My dear, my little Liberty

There he lies in his new bed, a band of paper round his head

Don’t wait for us, my darling

Don’t strain your sight

Four Operas

1. Carmen

2. Aida