Alexander Kushner

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Kushner on a visit in Jerusalem, 2005
Kushner on a visit in Jerusalem, 2005

Alexander Semenovich Kushner (Russian: Александр Семёнович Кушнер) is a prominent Russian living poet from Saint Petersburg.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Kushner was born into a Jewish family in Leningrad on the 14th of September 1936, his father was a military engineer. He graduated Herzen University. Taught Russian literature from 1959-1969. Then moved to professional writing of verse. Over 30 years, he wrote about 15 books of verse and two books of essays. Member of Writers' Union (from 1965), Russian PEN-center (from 1987), editor-in-chief of "Biblioteka poeta" (the "Library of Poet" series). Personal friend of Joseph Brodsky. The single son Eugene and his family lives in Israel.

In his poetry Alexander Kushner is sometimes considered to be close to Acmeism with strong accent on general culture. He usually does not use free verse and does not experiment a lot with form and prefers classic style. The Nobel Prize winner Brodsky characterized Kushner as "one of the best lyric poets of XX century, his name is to stand in the line of names, dear to heart of everyone, whose native language is Russian" [1]

Books of verse were translated into English, Italian, Dutch. Samples of verse appeared in German, French, Japanese, Hebrew, Czech and Bulgarian.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books of verse

  • The First Impression (Russian: Первое впечатление) 1962.
  • The Night Watch (Russian: Ночной дозор) 1966.
  • Omens (Russian: Приметы) 1969.
  • The Writing (Russian: Письмо) 1974.
  • The Direct Speech (Russian: Прямая речь) 1975.
  • The Voice (Russian: Голос) 1978.
  • Tavrichesky Garden (Russian: Таврический сад) 1984.
  • Day Dreams (Russian: Дневные сны) 1986.
  • The Fence Hedge (Russian: Живая изгородь) 1988
  • Night Music (Russian: Ночная музыка) 1991.
  • On the Dark Star (Russian: На сумрачной звезде) 1994.
  • The Milfoil (Russian: Тысячелистник) 1998.
  • Bank of Clouds (Russian: Летучая гряда) 2000.
  • Bushes (Russian: Кустарник) 2002.
  • The Cold May (Russian: Холодный май) 2005.
  • In the New Century (Russian: В новом веке) 2006.
  • One Cannot Choose Times...(five decades) (Russian: Времена не выбирают (пять десятилетий)) 2007.

[edit] Works in prose

  • Apollo under Snow (Russian: Апполон в снегу)
  • Wave and Stone (Russian: Волна и камень)
  • The Fifth Element (selected verse and articles) (Russian: Пятая стихия)

[edit] Awards

His numerous awards include the Russian National Award (1996) and the prestigious Pushkin Prize for poetry, bestowed on him by Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2001. [1]

Also

  • «North Palmira» (1995).
  • Award of "Novii Mir" magazine(1997).
  • Tepfer fond Pushkin award(1998).
  • Award of Tsarskoe selo(2004).
  • "Poet" award(2005).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Forward by J.Brodsky to Selected Verse of Kushner, Spb, "Hudozhetvennaja literatura"

[edit] External link

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