Vladimir Mayakovsky

Alexander Rodchenko, Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1924.
Born	July 19, 1893(1893-07-19) Baghdati, Russian Empire
Died	April 14, 1930(1930-04-14) (aged 36) Moscow, Soviet Union

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky [Владимир Владимирович Маяковский] was a Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist and stage and film actor.

Mayakovsky, the great poet of the Revolution, was born in a small Georgian town, where his father worked as a forest ranger. He arrived in Moscow at the age of thirteen and was jailed as a revolutionary two years later. After meeting Burliuk at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, he joined Burliuk's Hylaea group and began writing poetry. In 1913, he played the autobiographical role of poet, prophet, and martyr in his play Vladimir Mayakovksy: A Tragedy, and dressed in outlandish costumes with the Burliuks and Kamensky during their Futurist Tour of Russia. Mayakovsky met his muse, Lily Brik, in 1915 and began a love affair that lasted until 1928. With Lily’s husband, the literary critic Osip Brik, he founded LEF. Mayakovsky committed suicide in his apartment in February 1930. More than one hundred and fifty thousand people thronged the Moscow streets to attend his funeral. (Source)

Works

Pro eto, 1923, JPG. Design by Rodchenko.

Dlya golosa, 1923, PDF, PDF. Design by Lissitzky.

Rabochim Kurska, [1924-7], PDF. Design by Rozhkov; unpublished.

(in Russian unless noted otherwise)

Books and pamphlets

• Ya! [Я!], Moscow: G.L. Kuzmin & S.D. Dolinsky, [1913].
• Tragediya [Трагедия], Moscow: Tip. I.N. Gryzunov i K., 1914, 44 pp, PDF.
• Prostoe kak mychanie [Простое как мычание], [Moscow]: Parus, 1916, 116 pp, PDF.
• Voyna i mir [Война и мир], [Moscow]: Parus, 1917, 48 pp.
• Misteriya-Buff [Мистерия-Буфф], [Moscow]: Svoboda, 1918, 78 pp.
• 150 000 000, 1920.
• Lyublyu [Люблю], Moscow: VCHUTEMAS, 1922, 47 pp.

• Pro eto [Про это], Moscow and Petrograd: Gos. sots.-ekon. izd-vo, 1923, 43 pp.
  • V.V. Majakovskij: Pro eto. Übersetzung und Interpretation, trans. & comm. Senta Everts-Grigat, Munich: Sagner, 1975. (German)
  • Pro Eto - That's What, trans. Larisa Gureyeva and George Hyde, Todmorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2009, 170 pp. (Russian)/(English)

• Dlya golosa [Для голоса; For the Voice], Berlin: R.S.F.S.R. Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel’stvo, 1923, 61 pp, PDF. A collection of 13 poems by Mayakovsky, "constructed" by Lissitzky, printed in 3000 copies by Lutze & Vogt, Berlin. [1]
• Solntse: Poema [Солнце: Поэма], Moscow: Krug, 1923, [32] pp.
• Rabochim Kurska [Рабочим Курска], [1924-7]. Design by Yuri Rozhkov (Юрий Рожков); unpublished. [2] [3]
• Solntse v gostyach u Mayakovskogo [Солнце в гостях у Маяковского], New York: New World Press, 1925, 8 pp.
• Sergeyu Eseninu [Сергею Есенину], Tiflis: Zakkniga, 1926, 15 pp.
• Kak delat stikhi?, Moscow: Ogonek, 1927, 53 pp.
  • Wie man Verse macht, trans. Siegfried Behlsing, Zürich: Die Arche, 1960, 61 pp. (German)
• Kon-ogon [Конь-огонь], 1927. Children's book.
  • Il cavallino di fuoco / Конь-огонь, illustr. Flavio Costantini, Milan: Emme, 1969; Genova: Nugae, 2006. (Italian)/(Russian)
• Prochti i katay v Parizh i v Kitay [Прочти и катай в Париж и в Китай], 1927. Children's book.
• Transcripts of 28 books (torrent)

LEF 1 (1923), PDF, HTML.

Editor

• with Osip Brik, LEF, 7 numbers, Moscow: Gosizdat, 1923-25.
• with Sergei Tretyakov, Novyi LEF, 24 numbers, Moscow: Gosizdat, 1927-28.

Contributions in collections

• Poshechina obshestvennomu vkusu [Пощечина общественному вкусу], Moscow: G.L. Kuzmin, [1913].
• Futuristy. Rykayushchiy Parnas [Футуристы. Рыкающий Парнас], St Petersburg: Zhuravl, 1914, 120 pp, IA.
• Vesennee kontragentstvo muz [Весеннее контрагентство муз], Moscow: D. Burlyuk & Sam.Vermel, 1915.
• Strelets [Стрелец], [Moscow]: Strelets, 1915.
• Rzhanoe slovo: Revolyutsionnaya chrestomatiya futuristov [Ржаное слово: Революционная хрестоматия футуристов], intro. A. Lunacharsky, [Moscow]: IMO, 1918.
• Liren [Лирень], Moscow, 1920.
• 8 collections in HTML.

Selected works and translations

• Polnoe sobranie sochineniy v 12 t. [Полное собрание сочинений в 12 т.], Moscow: Gos. izd-vo chudozh. lit., 1939-49.
• Polnoe sobranie sochineniy: V 13 t. [Полное собрание сочинений: В 13 т.], Moscow: Chudozh. lit., 1955-1961, PDF/1, PDF/2, HTML.
• Antologia poética. Estudo biográfico e tradução, trans. Emilio Carrera Guerra, Leitura, 1963; 3rd ed., São Paulo: Max Limonad, 1981; 6th ed., 1987, 198 pp. (in Brazilian Portuguese)
• Poemas, ed. & notes Boris Schnaiderman, trans. Augusto & Haroldo de Campos, Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro, 1967, 134 pp; 7th ed., São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1997, 170 pp. (in Brazilian Portuguese). Review: Simmons, Jr. (1969, EN).
• The Complete Plays of Vladimir Mayakovsky, trans. Guy Daniels, intro. Robert Payne, New York: Washington Square Press, [1968], 274 pp. Review: Simmons, Jr. (1969).
• Poems, trans. Dorin Rottemberg, Moscow: Progress, 1972, 278 pp. (English) [4]
• Memoirs and Essays, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1975, 196 pp. (English)
• Selected Works in Three Volumes, Raduga, 1985f, PDF/1. (English)
• Listen!: Early Poems 1913-1918, trans. Maria Enzensberger, forew. Elaine Feinstein, San Francisco: City Lights, 1991. (English)
• Backbone Flute: Selected Poetry Of Vladimir Mayakovsky, trans. Andrey Kneller, Boston, 2008. (in English and Russian)
• La chinche. Comedia fantastica en nueve cuadros, trans. Jorge Segovia and Violetta Beck, Maldoror, 2009. (Spanish)

Correspondence

• with Lilya Brik, Cartas de amor a Lili Brik (1917-1930), Ediciones de la Flor, 1976. (Spanish)

• with Lilya Brik, Correspondence 1915-1930, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1982, 299 pp. [5]

• with Lilya Brik, L'amore è il cuore di tutte le cose. Lettere 1915-1930, ed. Bengt Jangfeldt, Neri Pozza, 2005. (Italian)

Audio recordings

• Chitaet pyat stichotvoreniy [читает пять стихотворений]. All currently known voice recordings of Mayakovsky: "Gimn sude" [Гимн Судье]; "A vy mogli by?.." [А вы могли бы?..]; "Neobychaynoe priklyuchenie" [Необычайное приключение]; "Poslushayte!" [Послушайте!]; "Voenno-morskaya lyubov" [Военно-морская любовь]. 1920, Petrograd, Institut Zhivogo Slova [Институт Живого Слова]. ZIP.
• http://www.ubu.com/sound/mai.html

Literature

Kruchenykh, LEF agitki Mayakovskogo, Aseeva, Tretyakova, 1925, JPG, PDF.

Cover of Jakobson, Svyatopol-Mirskiy, Smert Vladimira Mayakovskogo, 1930. Photo by László Moholy-Nagy.

Kamensky, Yunost Mayakovskogo, 1931.

• A.E. Kruchenykh (А.Е. Крученых), LEF agitki Mayakovskogo, Aseeva, Tretyakova [ЛЕФ агитки Маяковского, Асеева, Третьякова], Moscow: Izd. Vseros. soyuza poetov, 1925, 61 pp, PDF. (Russian)

• Roman Jakobson, "O pokolenii, rastrativshem svoich poetov", in Jakobson, D. Svyatopol-Mirskiy, Smert Vladimira Mayakovskogo [Смерть Владимира Маяковского], Berlin: Petropolis, 1930. (Russian)
  • "Von einer Generation, die ihre Dichter vergeudethat", Slavische Rundschau 2 (1930), pp 481—495. (German)
  • "La génération qui a gaspillé ses poètes", in Questions de poétique, ed. Tzvetan Todorov, Paris: Seuil, 1973, pp 73—101. (French)
  • "On a Generation that Squandered Its Poets", in Major Soviet Writers: Essays in Criticism, ed. E. J. Brown, Oxford University Press, 1973, pp 7—32. (English)
  • El caso Maiakovski, trans. M.ª Angels Margarit, Icaria, 1977, 94 pp. (Spanish)
  • Una generazione che ha dissipato i suoi poeti. Il problema Majakovskij, Edizioni SE, 2004, 79 pp. (Italian)
  • A geração que esbanjou seus poetas, trans. Sonia Regina Martins Gonçalves, Cosac Naify, 2006, 96 pp. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Vasily Kamensky (Василий Каменский), Yunost Mayakovskogo [Юность Маяковского], [Tiflis]: Zakkniga, [1931], 84 pp. (Russian)

• Andrey Sinyavskiy (Андрей Донатович Синявский), Osnovnye printsipy estetiki V.V. Mayakovskogo [Основные принципы эстетики В. В. Маяковского], 1950. (Russian)

• Angelo Maria Ripellino, Majakovskij e il teatro russo d'avanguardia, Giulio Einaudi, 1959, 286 pp. (Italian)
  • Maiakovski e o teatro de vanguarda, São Paulo: Pespectiva, 1971, 285 pp. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• E.I. Naumov (Е.И. Наумов), V. V. Mayakovskiy: Seminariy [В. В. Маяковский: Семинарий], 4th ed., Leningrad: Gos. ucheb.-ped. izd-vo. Leningr. otd-nie, 1963, 444 pp. (Russian)

• Fernando Peixoto, Maiakovski. Vida e obra, Rio de Janeiro: Alvaro, 1969; 2nd ed., Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1979; 3rd ed., 1986, 234 pp. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Boris Schnaiderman, A poética de Maiakovski, São Paulo: Pespectiva, 1971; 1984. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Bengt Jangfeldt, Majakovskij and Futurism, 1917-1921, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1976, 133 pp. Review: Barooshian (SEEJ 1977). (English)

• Wlodzimierz Majakowski: życie i twórczość, eds. Ryszard Stanisławski and Janusz Zagrodzki, Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 1977. Exh. catalogue. (Polish)

• Vahan D. Barooshian, Brik and Mayakovsky, The Hague: Mouton, 1978, ix+157 pp. Reviews: Kemp-Welch (SS 1979), Lawton (SEEJ 1980). (English)

• V.A. Katyanyan (В.А. Катянян), Mayakovskiy: Chronika zhizni i deyatelnosti [Маяковский: Хроника жизни и деятельности], 5th ed., Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel, 1985, 648 pp. (Russian)

• Roman Jakobson, Jakobson-budetljanin: sbornik materialov [Якобсон-будетлянин: сборник материалов], ed. Bengt Jangfeldt (Бенгт Янгфельдт), Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1992, 185 pp. Review: Pyman (1993). (Russian)
  • My Futurist Years, trans. Stephen Rudy, ed. Bengt Jangfeldt, New York: Marsilio, 1997, 345 pp. Memoir. (English)
  • Meine futuristischen Jahre, trans. Brigitte van Kann, Berlin: Friedenauer Presse, 1999, 155 pp. (German)

• Chantal Sundaram, Manufacturing Culture: The Soviet State and the Mayakovsky Legend, 1930-1993, University of Toronto, 2000, 366 pp. Ph.D. dissertation. (English)

• Bengt Jangfeldt, Med livet som insats: Berättelsen om Vladimir Majakovskij och hans krets, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2007, 592 pp. Review: Koch (2007, EN). (Swedish)
  • Stavka - zhizn'. Vladimir Mayakovskiy i yego krug [Ставка - жизнь: Владимир Маяковский и его круг], trans. Asia Lavrusha, Kolibri, 2009, 638 pp. (Russian)
  • Een leven op scherp: De Legendarische Dichter Vladimir Majakovski 1893-1930, Balans, 2009, 544 pp. (Dutch)
  • لی‌لی و ماياكوفسكی, trans. علی شفیعی. (Persian)
  • Mayakovsky: A Biography, trans. Harry D. Watson, University of Chicago Press, 2014, 616 pp, EPUB. (English)
  • 生命是赌注：马雅可夫斯基的革命与爱情, 广西师范大学出版社, 2020, 736 pp. (Chinese)
  • Majakovskij. Una vita in gioco, Neri Pozza, 2022. (Italian)

• Steven Lee, The Ethnic Avant-Garde: Minority Cultures and World Revolution, Columbia University Press, 2015, 304 pp, EPUB. [6] (English)

• Aleksandar Bošković, "Revolution, Production, Representation: Iurii Rozhkov's Photomontages to Maiakovskii's Poem To the Workers of Kursk", Slavic Review 76:2, Summer 2017, pp 395-427. [7]

• more

Other

• Vasiliy Kamenskiy (Василий Каменский), Yunost Mayakovskogo (otryvok) [Юность Маяковского (отрывок)]. MP3.

See also

• LEF, Novyi LEF
• Russia#Avant-garde

Links

• Mayakovsky Museum, Moscow.
• Photographs of Mayakovsky
• Mayakovsky at Wikipedia