Professor Martin Bidney

Russia's World Traveler Poet Professor Martin Bidney

The poetry of Nikolay Gumilev (1886-1921) is part of the life of every educated Russian. Children read him in school for his appealing adventure tales-notably "The Discovery of America," where he shows Columbus guided by the same spirit that gave life to the Russian poet's own lifetime work-the "Muse of Distant Travel." To young Russians Gumilev plays a role like that of Antoine de Saint--Exupéry for the youth of France. Yet, characteristically, the "Discovery" is filled with meaning for every mental traveler. One of the central poets of the 20th century, a celebrator of love and risk, heroism and passion, a psychological explorer of deep acuity and a wanderer whose work could almost serve as a poetic world atlas, Gumilev was an officer in the White army and co--founded the influential poetic movement of Acmeism. Contemporary with Joseph Conrad, he devoted a book to his pioneering journeys in Africa-where he mapped uncharted terrain. There is nothing like this African panorama in modern Western verse. Gumilev needs to be better known in America for his lyrical work-mellifluent, vigorous, and riveting. The eight unabridged Gumilev collections offered here in form--true renderings will at last allow speakers of English a chance to acquire a thorough acquaintance with one of the finest and-to native speakers-best--known poets of the Russian canon. Romantic Flowers (1908) offers a kaleidoscope of the poet's early interests, mainly in the Symbolist tradition. Pearl (1910) adds a more detailed realism and offers outstanding narrative poems on Odysseus and Adam. The five--part Alien Sky (1912) combines the vivid concrete imagery of Acmeism with passionate lyrics often conveying a religious dimension, as in "The Prodigal Son" and the Islamic poem "Pilgrim," and ending with a hilarious one--act comedy in verse, "Don Juan in Egypt." Quiver (1916) is filled with European travel postcards and character sketches. In Pyre (1918) many lyrics are tenderly personal. In the brief Porcelain Pavilion (1918) we find vignettes of domestic life in China and Indochina, while Tent (1918) is an epic--scale travelogue of Africa, blending realism and boys' adventure fantasy. Fire Column (1921) achieves a culminating religious and philosophic depth.