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Alexander Semyonovich Kushner () is a Russian poet from
* The First Impression () 1962.
* The Night Watch () 1966.
* Omens () 1969.
* The Writing () 1974.
* The Direct Speech () 1975.
* The Voice () 1978.
* Tavrichesky Garden () 1984.
* Day Dreams () 1986.
* The Fence Hedge () 1988.
* Night Music () 1991.
* On the Dark Star () 1994.
* The Milfoil () 1998.
* Bank of Clouds () 2000.
* Bushes () 2002.
* The Cold May () 2005.
* In the New Century () 2006.
* One Cannot Choose Times...(five decades) () 2007.
* Apollo in the Grass. 2015.
Also *«North Palmira» (1995). *Award of Novy Mir, ''Novy Mir'' magazine (1997). *Tepfer fond Pushkin award (1998). *Award of Tsarskoe selo (2004). *"Poet" award (2005).
Short biography
Petersburg Perspectives
Alexander Kushner has been described by Joseph Brodsky as one of the best lyric poets of the 20th century
Времена не выбирают in verse English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushner, Alexander Semenovich Writers from Saint Petersburg Jewish Russian writers 20th-century Russian poets Russian male poets Living people 1936 births Pushkin Prize winners Herzen University alumni
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
.
Biography
Kushner was born inLeningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
into a Russian-Jewish family; his father was a naval engineer. Alexandr graduated from the Russian language and literature school of the city's teacher-training Herzen University
Herzen University, or formally the Russian State Pedagogical University in the name of A. I. Herzen () is a university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was formerly known as the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute. It is one of the largest ...
, and later, between 1959 and 1969, taught Russian literature. After that, he became a full-time writer and poet. Since then he published about 15 collections of his poetry and two books of his essays. In 1965 he became a member of the Writers' Union Writers' Union may refer to the following organizations:
Statewide unions
* Writers Union of Armenia
* Azerbaijani Writers Union
* Writers' Union of Canada
* Chinese Writers Union
* Estonian Writers' Union
* Hungarian Writers' Union
* Iraqi Writer ...
, in 1987 joined the Russian PEN
PEN may refer to:
* (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI)
* PEN International, a worldwide association of writers
** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International
** PEN America, located ...
Center. He is also editor-in-chief of ''Biblioteka poeta'' (the "Library of the Poet" series). His only son Eugene and his family live in Israel.
In October 1993, he signed the Letter of Forty-Two The Letter of Forty-Two () was an open letter signed by forty-two Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. It was published in the newspaper ''Izvestia'' on 5 O ...
.
His poetry resembles that of Acmeists. He usually doesn't write in free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...
and seldom experiments or tries to elaborate a new poetic form, preferring to write in a classic, 19th century-like style. The Nobel Prize winner Brodsky Brodsky, feminine: Brodskaya ( Ukrainian: Бродський, Russian: Бродский) is a toponymic surname derived from Brody, a town in Ukraine. The name is common among Ashkenazi Jews.
The Czech surname Brodský (feminine: Brodská) is deriv ...
once called Kushner "one of the best lyrical poets of the 20th century", adding that his name "is to stand in the line of names dear to the heart of every native Russian speaker"Brodsky's preface in ''Selected Verse of Kushner'', St. Petersburg: Khudozhetvennaya literatura
Translations of Kushner's poetry into English, Italian and Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
were published in book form; several poems were also translated to German, French, Japanese, Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
, Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
, and Bulgarian.
Bibliography
Books of verse
* The First Impression () 1962.
* The Night Watch () 1966.
* Omens () 1969.
* The Writing () 1974.
* The Direct Speech () 1975.
* The Voice () 1978.
* Tavrichesky Garden () 1984.
* Day Dreams () 1986.
* The Fence Hedge () 1988.
* Night Music () 1991.
* On the Dark Star () 1994.
* The Milfoil () 1998.
* Bank of Clouds () 2000.
* Bushes () 2002.
* The Cold May () 2005.
* In the New Century () 2006.
* One Cannot Choose Times...(five decades) () 2007.
* Apollo in the Grass. 2015.
Works in prose
* Apollo under Snow () * Wave and Stone () * The Fifth Element (selected verse and articles) ()Awards
His numerous awards include the Russian National Award (1996) and the prestigiousPushkin Prize
The Pushkin Prize () was a Russian literary award presented to a Russian writer considered to have achieved the highest standard of literary excellence. It was established in 1881 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to honor one of the greatest R ...
for poetry, bestowed on him by Russian president Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
in 2001Also *«North Palmira» (1995). *Award of Novy Mir, ''Novy Mir'' magazine (1997). *Tepfer fond Pushkin award (1998). *Award of Tsarskoe selo (2004). *"Poet" award (2005).
References
External links
Short biography
Petersburg Perspectives
Alexander Kushner has been described by Joseph Brodsky as one of the best lyric poets of the 20th century
Времена не выбирают in verse English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushner, Alexander Semenovich Writers from Saint Petersburg Jewish Russian writers 20th-century Russian poets Russian male poets Living people 1936 births Pushkin Prize winners Herzen University alumni