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“Heraclitis observed that ‘the dry soul is wisest and best.’ Joseph Brodsky would have agreed, at least in principle. But no one who reads these interviews will fail to note his passionate engagement with the world – the very world from which, as a poet, he was always trying to detach himself. The development of the poetry and the development of the human animal writing the poetry are often distinct – yet in Brodsky’s case, the overlap is poignant. Certainly his psyche turned to darkness as his body betrayed him – another force driving him to seek the absolute lucidity and infallibility of a mathematical axiom in his poetry, another level of his eternal combat between grief and reason. The struggle is evident in this volume.”
– From the introduction to Joseph Brodsky: Conversations
With great pleasure we announce that Joseph Brodsky: Conversations is now available to Italian speakers, thanks to Italy’s premier publishing house, Adelphi in Milan. (We’ve written about Adelphi’s publisher and founder Roberto Calasso, who visited Stanford last year, here and here.) It’s a great honor to be part of Adelphi’s eminent family of authors. We at the Book Haven are chuffed beyond words – even if “we” means Humble Moi sitting alone at my MacBook Pro, surrounded only by stacks of books and papers and a pile of sharpened pencils.
The book was originally published in 2002 as part of the University Press of Mississippi’s Literary Conversations series, but given the Russian poet’s famous love of Italy, it should find a natural home in lovely Milano.
Thanks to all who made this possible, especially including Maria Sozzani Brodsky. Grazie mille! We’ll be running excerpts from the reviews as they roll in.
What’s that you say? You don’t speak Italian? Try looking for the English language edition on Amazon (here), which features a stunning photo by Richard Avedon on the cover.
Tags: "joseph brodsky", Roberto Calasso