C: It feels like we are
back in the age of Samizdat! We must walk a tightrope--speaking out, but
being circumspect, too!
P: Yes! Don't you have an
expression: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained?"
C: My mother taught me that when I was a kid! Life means taking risks! Wisdom and
experience mean calculated risks!
P: There are, at least, two books that loom ahead for me. 1) an
Anthology of Russian/American poetry; and, 2) "Russian Whitman" (an account of
my father's life as a scientist "under the Sickle and Hammer.") Why
Whitman? Because he was my father's favorite American poet!
In the first book, the
poets of both cultures should be conversing with one another! The second book,
based on my father's memoirs and my personal communication with him, should
portray the events he witnessed--especially from his scientific viewpoint--,
starting from the early 1920s till his death in 1990 (The Soviet Union died
the next year). I'm sure this could interest many, many people. (Unfortunately,
today, history is shamelessly distorted for political reasons, both in Russia
and abroad).
I would be delighted if
we could work on these projects!
Part Two
Corseri: Hello
Victor. I'm excited to have your (mostly) positive response to my query.
I think, in fact, that this
initial exchange of views on this matter of politics and the arts--with the
immediate tie-in to current events--would form the basis of our first article.
I can conceive of
several articles addressing current events and the role of artists in bringing
a different consciousness--and more clarity--to those events. We would just
spin off each other. In a book, we might start with my Jeffers' essay, and the
first short exchanges between us concerning him (and include your Dissident
Voice poem then. In a sense, one might say that Robinson Jeffers introduced us,
since it was your favorable response to my essay about him that began our
correspondence.)
Like you, I think there
is a great need for such a book! (And, like you, I think much of what is being
offered now--in the contemporary poetry "scene" is very lacking in
scope and quality. It is too
"precious"--too self-contained, self-limited, selfish!)
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