Night Wraps the Sky

Writings by and about Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky; Edited by Michael Almereyda

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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From the time his first, futurist poems were published in 1912 until his suicide at the age of thirty-six, Vladimir Mayakovsky made theatrical appearances in his written work and perfected an iconoclastic voice James Schuyler called “the intimate yell.” As the poet laureate of the Russian Revolution, Mayakovsky led a generation that staked everything on the notion that an artist could fuse a public and a private self. But by the time of Stalin’s terror, the contradictions of the revolution caught up with him, and he ended in despair.

A major influence on American poets of the twentieth century, Mayakovsky’s work remains fascinating and urgent. Very few English translations have come close to capturing his lyric intensity, and a comprehensive volume of his writings has not been published in the past thirty years. In Night Wraps the Sky, the acclaimed filmmaker Michael Almereyda (Hamlet, William Eggleston in the Real World) presents Mayakovsky’s key poems—translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets—alongside memoirs, artistic appreciations, and eyewitness accounts, written and pictorial, to create a full-length portrait of the man and the mythic era he came to embody.

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Night Wraps the Sky by Vladimir Mayakovsky--Reading

Listen to this audio recording of a poetry reading for the book Night Wraps the Sky, an anthology of the work of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, edited by Michael Almereyda. The book presents Mayakovsky's key poems and other works, translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets.

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Val Vinokur reads "Getting Along with Horses" in English

"Listen to translator Val Vinokur read his English translation of Vladimir Mayakovsky's ""Getting Along with Horses,"" from the Night Wraps the Sky anthology, edited by Michael Almereyda. This book presents Mayakovsky’s key poems—translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets. Learn more about the book Night Wraps the Sky at http://us.macmillan.com/nightwrapsthesky/MichaelAlmereyda Read more about editor Michael Almereyda at http://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelalmereyda "

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Michael Almereyda reads Mayakovsky's poem "Past One O'clock"

"Listen to this poetry reading to hear editor Michael Almereyda read Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem ""Past One O'clock,"" which can be found in the anthology Night Wraps the Sky. The book presents Mayakovsky’s key poems, translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets. Learn more about the book Night Wraps the Sky at http://us.macmillan.com/nightwrapsthesky/MichaelAlmereyda Read more about editor and filmmaker Michael Almereyda at http://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelalmereyda"

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Joseph Clement reads Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem 'For You'

"Listen to this poetry reading to hear Joseph Clement read Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem ""For You,"" which can be found in the anthology Night Wraps the Sky, edited by Michael Almereyda. The book presents Mayakovsky’s key poems, translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets. Learn more about the book Night Wraps the Sky at http://us.macmillan.com/nightwrapsthesky/MichaelAlmereyda Read more about editor and filmmaker Michael Almereyda at http://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelalmereyda"

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Val Vinokur reads "Getting Along with Horses" in Russian

"Listen to translator Val Vinokur read Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem ""Getting Along with Horses"" in the original Russian, from the Night Wraps the Sky anthology, edited by Michael Almereyda. This book presents Mayakovsky’s key poems translated by a new generation of Russian-American poets. Learn more about the book Night Wraps the Sky at http://us.macmillan.com/nightwrapsthesky/MichaelAlmereyda Read more about editor Michael Almereyda at http://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelalmereyda "

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Reviews

Praise for Night Wraps the Sky

"Allen Ginsberg admired the epic sweep and social ambition of Mayakovsky's poetry, while Frank O'Hara was fascinated by Mayakovsky's unabashed intimacy with the cosmos. The barbaric-bardic energy and influence of the Russian Futurist giant have been obscured for half a century, but Michael Almereyda has recovered a living, still-breathing figure of folk majesty, a poet-declaimer whose discoveries are far from spent." —Andrei Codrescu

"The poet Mayakovsky may have been a genius, a hipster, a shill, and the first and only early-Soviet rap star. NIGHT WRAPS THE SKY finally does justice to one of the most fascinating and controversial literary bad boys of the 20th Century." —Gary Shteyngart

“Mayakovsky read like a sailor shouting through a megaphone to another ship in a heavy sea.” —John Berger

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About the Author

Vladimir Mayakovsky; Edited by Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda’s films include Nadja, Hamlet, William Eggleston in the Real World, and New Orleans Mon Amour. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Artforum, The Believer, and Film Comment.

Michael Almereyda
Vladimir Mayakovsky

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Available Formats and Book Details

Night Wraps the Sky
Writings by and about Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky; Edited by Michael Almereyda

Hardcover

Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
April 2008
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780374281359
ISBN10: 0374281351
6 1/8 x 8 1/4 inches, 304 pages, Black-and-White Illustrations
$27.00
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