Centuries Encircle Me with Fire

“Probstein has an encyclopedic knowledge of modernist Russian poetry and its counterparts in the West, in particular Pound and Eliot (who he has translated into Russian). Readers and scholars will go to this introduction for information on specific Mandelstam poems as well as for a deep understanding of his poetics and the poetics of translation in reference to Mandelstam. The virtue of his translations follow upon this. These translations do more than many others in situating the poems in their historical and literary context. These are translations coming from a poet and scholar who comes from Russia but who has spent much of his adult life in New York. The balance between his knowledge of Russian literature and Anglo-American poetry and poetics is astounding. Probstein pulls off what might seem impossible: bringing an ear for the Russian, including the intricacies of Mandelstam’s prosodies, into English, which includes carrying over specific resonances from the Russian. That is to say, this book is the product of a fully—I want to say 'hyper'—bilingual poet, scholar, and translator. The English versions are so deeply immersed in the Russian sources that they give us a Mandelstam different than what is otherwise available.”

— Charles Bernstein, the 2019 Bollingen Poetry Award Winner

 “Osip Mandelstam ranks among the most influential poets of the 20th century. Deeply connected to literary modernism both in Russia and abroad and one of the most notable representatives of Acmeist school of poetry, Mandelstam coined a unique poetic voice that continues to enchant and confound readers and translators. In his new translation, Ian Probstein combines his own poetic aesthetics with his scholarly sensibility and meticulous research to offer the reader a new approach to rendering Mandelstam’s poems in English. Positioned side-by-side with their Russian originals, the English verses in Probstein’s translation find the delicate balance between capturing the meaning of the original and reproducing its unmistakable Mandelstamian dynamism and music in English. Far from merely rendering Mandelstam’s verse in English, Probstein studies Mandelstam’s aesthetic and ideological evolution, and draws on the historical and political context of each verse to dictate his own choices in translating it.”

— Margarit Ordukhanyan, PhD, translator

“Few English translations of Osip Mandelstam’s poetry capture its striking imagery and metrically intricate intonation as well as Ian Probstein. Probstein conveys Mandelstam’s diction with precision and elegance. Those who are familiar with the originals will easily recognize them in this translation, while Probstein’s use of contemporary English-language poetics, including rhyme, makes Mandelstam’s work accessible to the native English speaker.

As another tragic chapter in Russia’s history of oppression unfolds, this striking new translation of Osip Mandelstam, a victim of Stalin’s terror, is a timely and welcome contribution to the project of making Russian voices silenced by their own leaders heard, read, and appreciated in the West.”

— Ilya Kutik, Northwestern University

“This book is the fruit of Ian Probstein’s lifelong dialogue with the poetry of Mandelstam’s, but now is the time when it is most needed. With the barbaric war waged against Ukraine by the Russian government, Russian culture must again hold the line, as Mandelstam did. Throughout his life, Mandelstam ‘fenced to defend nature’s honor,’ to cite his poem about Lamarck, the great biologist who ascribed humanity to evolution, and, as importantly, Mandelstam stood up for the honor of civilization, which would long have failed to redeem itself without such intercessors. Ian Probstein’s book is a perfect introduction to Mandelstam’s poetry, not only because of the carefully selected texts accompanied with insightful and apropos commentary, but primarily because of his translations. These strike a balance between faithful and creative, allowing the reader to partake both of Mandelstam’s ‘rhyme’ and ‘reason.’”

— Basil Lvoff, Hunter College