Monthly Archive: July, 2020

Madhouse (a text of Emile Verhaern translated by Vadim Bystritski)

What a discouraging, sad and dreary perspective of continuing as a man!  It felt like I was still surrounded by madmen. They looked at me, talked to me, asked me questions. First the… Continue reading

Human Misery (a text of Philippe Jaccottet translated by Vadim Bystritski)

All human misery, when we come in contact with it, gives us an impression of a repulsive animal. This feeling of repulsion, we must, if possible, learn how to endure and overcome. Toute… Continue reading

Mountain (a text of Philippe Jaccottet translated by Vadim Bystritski)

A snow covered mountain turns pink with sunset. At the foot of the mountain, a fire will look ashen; at the summit the flame becomes sincere as it meets the sky. All of… Continue reading

All Alone (a text of Emile Verhaeren translated by Vadim Bystritski)

Nods twisted with torment, arrows piercing pain, enormous crosses for suffering, anguish titanised pincers, blood covered nails, thorns sunk into cranium, and utter passion smeared across my need to scream, cry, bite, die… Continue reading

Under the First Snow (a text of Philippe Jaccottet translated by Vadim Bystritski)

Lance receives the first snow of the year. The peak’s summit is taken by the grayness of clouds. Below, in the valleys, they see a few snow slides. In the forests, the trees… Continue reading

Tree (a text of Paul Claudel translated by Vadim Bystritski)

Besides man, in nature trees typify verticality, though not in the same way. To maintain equilibrium, man doesn’t constantly deploy his arms. Under normal circumstances, those appendages hang submissively, as a supplement to… Continue reading

Bunraku (a text of Paul Claudel translated by Vadim Bystritski)

You have an autonomous doll, a mini-man in your hands, a vital center projecting gestures. Unlike a human actor, the marionette is weightless and effortless — it doesn’t touch the ground and can… Continue reading

The Interior Wall (a text of Claude Claudel translated by Vadim Bystritski)

There is always a wall on my right. The wall I follow as it follows my steps, unraveling behind me whenever I walk, while ahead of me there is still more of it… Continue reading

In the Silent Valley (a text of Yves Bonnefoy translated by Vadim Bystritski)

In a silent valley, I often wish to hear or I do, who knows, a body falling blindly through the branches. It is long and slow, no scream will ever interrupt or finish… Continue reading

Cistern (a text of Yves Bonnefoy translated by Vadim Bystritski)

On a faraway, just starting to wane, yet still immobile afternoon, we had opened one of those cisterns with two coping sheet-metal plates on rusty hinges and the great noise with which it… Continue reading