Strana Sovetskaya (The Soviet Land) [Collection of poems]

Very Good condition; Wrappers show some rubbing and creasing across corners and along upper edge, grease spot on the bottom outer corner of back cover, glued lower half of the spine; internally occasional soiling and fingerprints mainly on the bottom outer corners of some pages. 

Striking publisher's constructivist wrappers printed in red and black designed by Tiflis-born artist Kirill Zdanevich (1892-1969). One of the founders of the Futurist group 41°, Zdanevich created designs for the finest avant-garde books of the period. His Cubo-Futurist style was characterized by a strong sense of colour. Serge Charchoune said of him: "He brought us colour, which the Cubists had virtually abandoned." 

The last Esenin’s lifetime edition published by him in Caucasus, where poet spent a lot of time in 1924-1925 having chosen this place as a refuge during his hard period of life. The collection includes fifteen of the best Esenin’s poems written during last two years and selected by him: “Return to Motherland”, “Soviet Russia”, "Homeless Russia", “Letter to Woman”, “Letter to Mother”, “Lenin”, “Ballad of the Twenty-Six”, "Land of Scoundrels", “Stansi”, and others. Most of these works were also published in Baku and Tiflis daily newspapers. The lyric poems are saturated with love for the new Revolutionary Russia, whose fate is inseparable from that of Esenin’s own, and relfect poet’s sense of responsibility toward his people, his time, his Motherland. 

During his brief lifetime, Sergei Esenin (1895-1925) gained recognition as the best Russian poet of 20^thcentury. His early poetry was inspired by Russian folklore and glorified the beauty of Russian villages and the simple life. Eesenin initially supported the Bolshevik revolution, thinking that it would prove beneficial to the peasant class, which expressed in his works of the time, but he became disenchanted when he saw that it would lead only to the industrialization of Russia. In 1919 Esenin signed the literary manifesto of the group of avant-garde poets called the Imaginists, soon he bacame the leading exponent of the school. For some time Esenin had been writing the consciously cynical, swaggering tavern poetry that barely concealed the sense of self-depreciation that was overwhelming him. A longing for a return to the simplicity of the peasant lifestyle characterizes his work at the beginning of 1920s, as does his innovative use of images drawn from village lore. Tormented by guilt that he had been unable to fulfill the messianic role of poet of the people, he fell into a deep depression and committed suicide by hanging. A prolific and somewhat uneven writer, Eesenin had a true gift of song. His poignant short lyrics are full of striking imagery. He was very popular both during his lifetime and after his death.