Mirror of the Soul - A Life of the Poet Fyodor Tyutchev (2010) (original) (raw)

Fyodor Tyutchev

Selected Poems

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by John Dewey
Gillingham (Brimstone Press), 2014, xlvi + 140 pp.

ISBN 978-1-906385-43-9
eISBN 978-1-906385-44-6

The lyric verse of FYODOR TYUTCHEV (1803 – 1873), one of the treasures of Russian literature, remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world. This generous new selection of 100 of his poems, in verse translations by John Dewey, offers a rewarding insight into the work of a great poet. The translations are supplemented by an Introduction providing an informative survey of Tyutchev’s life and poetry, and by detailed endnotes on the individual poems.

JOHN DEWEY's translations of Russian prose fiction include The Nomadic Soul and Day of the Angel, both by the contemporary writer Irina Muravyova, The Old Arbat, Boris Yampolsky's chilling novel of everyday life in Stalin's Russia, and The Sign, a collection of stories by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Among his publications in the field of Russian poetry are a verse translation of Pushkin's narrative poem The Bronze Horseman (shortlisted for the John Dryden Prize), and Mirror of the Soul, his critically acclaimed biography of Tyutchev.

‘Not least impressive are the translations of Tyutchev’s lyrics which, unusually for a book of this kind, give the non-Russian speaker a real sense of the originals’ — Malcolm Jones, Emeritus Professor of Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham (reviewing Mirror of the Soul: A Life of the Poet Fyodor Tyutchev)

‘[Dewey’s translations] certainly convey to the general reader the thrust of Tiutchev’s poetry and offer an idea of its greatness’ — Barry P. Scherr, Slavonic and East European Review

‘high poetic quality’ — Jessie Davies, Journal of Russian Studies

‘a handsome, carefully compiled, and meticulously crafted compilation of Tyutchev’s lyrics in English … [Dewey’s] rendition of Tyutchev’s love lyrics, and most of the nature lyrics are, in my opinion, particularly well done … The introduction does a wonderful job of contextualizing the poems … John Dewey is to be thanked for his appealing, evocative translations of Tyutchev’s works, which will prove valuable to scholars and students of Russian poetry as well as general poetry lovers’ — Sofya Khagi, Slavic and East European Journal

Selected Poems is no longer in print, but may be downloaded free of charge as an e-book [here](Download/Tyutchev Selected Poems.pdf).

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