Yesterday, 04:43 AM
Osip Mandelstam is a good master of apophatism (in literary form it is often differentiated as apophaticism). It is hard to find a good translation of all of his work and I do not speak Russian. I am reading How Poems Think by Reginald Gibbons and while I’m troubled with his methods of engagement with Russian-speaking poets, I think I am learning some things. I say I think because old Reg’s methods of engagement gives big “big if true” vibes and I don’t know enough and he doesn’t provide enough evidence for me to be confident. But he keeps getting mentioned when I try to get close to Mandelstam in English.