Boris Ryzhy
Encyclopedia
Boris Borisovich Ryzhy or Ryzhii was a Russia
n poet
. Some poems by Ryzhy have been translated into English
, Italian
, German
, Dutch
and Serbian
. He committed suicide on May 7, 2001, at the age of 26.
At the time of his death, Ryzhy's reputation had burgeoned and he was starting to receive recognition as one of the premier poets of his generation. He was awarded the Anti-Booker Prize and accepted an invitation to the Rotterdam Poetry Festival. His suicide, seen by many skeptics as a desperate plea for recognition and fame the kind of which has been popular in Russia ever since Sergei Esenin's notable suicide in a St. Petersburg hotel in 1925, was a sad consequence of his manic depression and substance abuse. Shortly afterwards, he was posthumously awarded the Northern Palmyra, one of the mostly highly sought after prizes in Russian letters, for his collection Opravdaniye zhizni (which translates as "A Reason to Live").
Since his death in 2001, his poetry has been lauded and added to the canon of Russian poets. Numerous selected poems and collections of his have been added to the volumes of essential literature in the last several years, and he has gained huge popularity for his verse, which is at times vulgar and swaggering, at times formally masterful and reminiscent of Russia's Silver Age. Through his short, poignant lyrics he crafted a persona of post-Soviet delinquency and despair. His own depression and addiction to alcohol figure prominently. He was the from the intelligentsia class, and had an impressive education in geology and nuclear geophysics and published many scientific papers. But, like many poets, he wore a mask.
Curiously, his reputation has been slow to grow outside of Russia. But since his death, a few translations have appeared into English, Italian, German and Dutch.
Ailona van der Horst made the documentary "Boris Ryzhy" in 2009 and the movie has received several awards, among them the Best Feature Documentary at Edinburgh International Filmfestival 2009.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. Some poems by Ryzhy have been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
. He committed suicide on May 7, 2001, at the age of 26.
At the time of his death, Ryzhy's reputation had burgeoned and he was starting to receive recognition as one of the premier poets of his generation. He was awarded the Anti-Booker Prize and accepted an invitation to the Rotterdam Poetry Festival. His suicide, seen by many skeptics as a desperate plea for recognition and fame the kind of which has been popular in Russia ever since Sergei Esenin's notable suicide in a St. Petersburg hotel in 1925, was a sad consequence of his manic depression and substance abuse. Shortly afterwards, he was posthumously awarded the Northern Palmyra, one of the mostly highly sought after prizes in Russian letters, for his collection Opravdaniye zhizni (which translates as "A Reason to Live").
Since his death in 2001, his poetry has been lauded and added to the canon of Russian poets. Numerous selected poems and collections of his have been added to the volumes of essential literature in the last several years, and he has gained huge popularity for his verse, which is at times vulgar and swaggering, at times formally masterful and reminiscent of Russia's Silver Age. Through his short, poignant lyrics he crafted a persona of post-Soviet delinquency and despair. His own depression and addiction to alcohol figure prominently. He was the from the intelligentsia class, and had an impressive education in geology and nuclear geophysics and published many scientific papers. But, like many poets, he wore a mask.
Curiously, his reputation has been slow to grow outside of Russia. But since his death, a few translations have appeared into English, Italian, German and Dutch.
Ailona van der Horst made the documentary "Boris Ryzhy" in 2009 and the movie has received several awards, among them the Best Feature Documentary at Edinburgh International Filmfestival 2009.
External links
- http://www.borisryzhy.com/
- Poet Boris Ryzhy
- http://jhstotts.blogspot.com/2008/05/boris-ryzhii-new-translations.html
- http://viewpoint-east.org/2010/03/30/boris-ryzhy-the-unwilling-survivor/