Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume II, Prose, Plays, and Supersagas

Velimir Khlebnikov

Translated by Paul Schmidt

Edited by Ronald Vroon

    The current volume in the series of Paul Schmidt's masterful translations of Khlebnikov includes all the published artistic prose, plays, and sverkhpovesti (supersagas)...What most distinguishes Schmidt's work is its high literary merit as a whole. His translations are a pleasure to read for their own sake, independent of the fact that they are successful renderings of challenging explorations by one of the great pathfinders in modern literature. We might note as a part of the picture that rarely is a translator required to invent words in English in order to do justice to an original text, but in Khlebnikov one must do this constantly and Schmidt is brilliant at it...Khlebnikov's prose is as verbally rich and full of coinages as his poetry, so this talent is needed throughout the volume, as is a talent for reproducing soundplay...In sum, another coup for Paul Schmidt.
       --Gerald Janecek, Russian Review

    The volume represents the second installment in the monumental task which Paul Schmidt undertook in bringing the entire body of Khlebnikov's works to the English-speaking audience. It shows that the difficulties in understanding Khlebnikov's works arise not so much from his unusual vocabulary and syntax, but from the complexity of his philosophy, his vision of the world, history, and time; from the complexity of the mythopoeic system which the poet created in his works...Schmidt's [are] masterful rendition[s] of Khlebnikov's verbal experiments.
       --Slava I. Yastremski, Slavic and East European Journal

    [These stories] cover an extraordinary variety of topics--e.g., nature, science, mathematics, politics, folklore, and history. Most are presented in a whimsical style that reflects Khlebnikov's marvelous imagination and gift for mythopoeia...[This is] an impressive volume of one of Russia's most erudite and original writers who is only now receiving his due recognition in his homeland. Highly recommended.
       --Choice

  • Cover: Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume II, Prose, Plays, and Supersagas

Paul Schmidt is the winner of the Max Hayward Prize for his translation of Velimir Khlebnikov, The King of Time: Selected Writings of the Russian Futurian (Harvard).

Ronald Vroon is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA.