Word - Flesh

The prose book by O. E. Mandelstam (1891–1938) consists of five sections organized thematically: "On the Nature of the Word", "Noise of Time", "As if on the Palm", "Personality in History", "Humanism and Modernity". The selection of texts aims to demonstrate how the poet's most important ideas were formed - about the nature of poetic word, time and space, the role and place of the individual, and finally, about the relationship between masses of people and a single individual. Detailed comments are provided for the poet's "small prose", allowing the reconstruction of the environment in which he lived and worked. The appendix includes generalized information about Mandelstam's St. Petersburg. The book is intended for both specialists in Russian literature and a wide range of interested readers.