Slap in the Face

"These four manifestos of Russian Futurism, charting key points in the rapid unfolding of the Russian avant-garde, provoke the appreciative bourgeoisie while declaring the liberation of the word, the phoneme, and even the grapheme! Dralyuk’s brisk, inventive translations convey the energy and rowdiness of the original." —Eugene Ostashevsky

"Boris Dralyuk’s new translation brings these manifestos to life with fire, passion, clarity, humor, and the unmistakable flavor of inventiveness, of verbal fireworks. What a joy to see Mr. Mayakovsky in English, slapping the face of the adoring public, throwing Pushkin overboard—with the passion of all young artists, yes, but also with humorous abandon, brilliance, and delicacy of detail. Mayakovsky and Khlebnikhov were revolutionaries who believed in the ‘word as a creator of myth,’ who believed that the ‘richness of the poet’s vocabulary is his justification.’ Bringing their manifestos into English today is a very timely event, one thinks. This is an important new translation." —Ilya Kaminsky