Joseph Brodsky recites “Nature Morte“ / Иосиф Бродский, “Натюрморт“ 1989 (subtitled Eng, Rus)

Poetry International in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1989 Brodsky was actively involved in the English translation of his poems. The video-translation stays close to the Russian text - where suitable Brodky’s English translation is used - because first of all it tries to be faithful to the rhythm, cadence, of this impressive poem. The subtitling of a poem is different from transferring a poem from one language to another. The poem (1971) has the following motto by C. Pavese: “Verra la morte e avra i tuoi occhi.“ (Death will come and will have your eyes). Brodsky: “Generally speaking, it (the poem) is about the fact that Christ is in some sense, a still life. ..... Christ is a thing and a man at the same time. That’s what I meant. “ (Cynthia L. Haven, 2002) Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (24 May 1940 - 28 January 1996) was a Russian poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities. For his “parasitism“ Brodsky was sentenced to five years hard labor and served 18 months on a farm in the village of Norenskaya, in the Arctic Archangelsk region, three hundred and fifty miles from Leningrad. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, settling in America with the help of W. H. Auden and others. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan. He was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature “for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity“. In 1991 he was appointed United States Poet Laureate. (Wikipedia) More on Literary Arts, check my playlist: