Child of Civilization

The collection includes essays by Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), dedicated to the history of Russian literature. In these texts, the poet, playwright, and Nobel laureate addresses the works of his great contemporaries, including Batюшков, Dostoevsky, Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, and others. Most of the essays were written by Brodsky in English, and only "The Poet and Prose" — in Russian. A number of translations were authorized and published during the author's lifetime. This edition also includes a new translation of the essay "Child of Civilization," done by the renowned translator Maxim Nemtsov.