Word: brik
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...LOVE: THE STORY OF VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY AND LILI BRIK by Ann and Samuel Charters; Farrar, Straus, & Giroux; 398 pages...
...Aragon and Vladimir Mayakovsky. For nearly 40 years the poet laureate of the French Communist Party rhapsodized in verse over Les Yeux d'Elsa and other cherished features of his wife Elsa Triolet. Mayakovsky, the bard of the Bolshevik Revolution, was no less attentive to his mistress Lili Brik, though his poems were scarcely as complimentary as Aragon's. Lili was Elsa's older sister, and the series of stunning lyrics that Mayakovsky dedicated to her in the 1910s and 1920s agonized over her indifference and infidelity. The Russian poet, who conducted his life as hyperbolically...
Mayakovsky was so used to reluctant audiences ... For the Briks, crowded at the table in their small dining room trying to keep their eyes on their teacups while a towering, disheveled poet recited loudly into their faces, the effect would have been overpowering whether they liked it or not... For Brik the poem was a brilliant revolutionary statement. Osip took the notebook that 'The Cloud in Trousers' had been copied into and read the poem over to himself, while Mayakovsky smiled, stirred jam into his tea, and looked at Lili and Elsa with his large brown eyes. Suddenly...