The Voice Over - by Maria Stepanova (Paperback)

About the Book

Maria Stepanova is one of the most powerful and distinctive voices of Russia's first post-Soviet literary generation. The Voice Over brings together two decades of Stepanova's work, showcasing her range, virtuosity, and creative evolution.

Book Synopsis

Maria Stepanova is one of the most powerful and distinctive voices of Russia's first post-Soviet literary generation. An award-winning poet and prose writer, she has also founded a major platform for independent journalism. Her verse blends formal mastery with a keen ear for the evolution of spoken language. As Russia's political climate has turned increasingly repressive, Stepanova has responded with engaged writing that grapples with the persistence of violence in her country's past and present. Some of her most remarkable recent work as a poet and essayist considers the conflict in Ukraine and the debasement of language that has always accompanied war.

The Voice Over brings together two decades of Stepanova's work, showcasing her range, virtuosity, and creative evolution. Stepanova's poetic voice constantly sets out in search of new bodies to inhabit, taking established forms and styles and rendering them into something unexpected and strange. Recognizable patterns of ballads, elegies, and war songs are transposed into a new key, infused with foreign strains, and juxtaposed with unlikely neighbors. As an essayist, Stepanova engages deeply with writers who bore witness to devastation and dramatic social change, as seen in searching pieces on W. G. Sebald, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Susan Sontag. Including contributions from ten translators, The Voice Over shows English-speaking readers why Stepanova is one of Russia's most acclaimed contemporary writers.

Review Quotes

[Stepanova's] work is defined by fluent phrases expressing complex thoughts, the fusing of different styles, a carefree command of all possible metrical feet, and a great sense of empathy.-- "Poetry International"

Each book [The Voice Over, In Memory of Memory, and War of the Beasts and the Animals] casts light on the others, revealing overlapping themes. Their simultaneous appearance gives English-speaking readers a singular opportunity to become familiar with a major Russian poet and thinker.-- "Times Literary Supplement"

Maria Stepanova is among the most visible figures in post-Soviet culture.-- "Los Angeles Review of Books"

Stepanova is finally receiving the attention she deserves in the Anglophone world. Subtle and erudite in its treatment of politics and history, her work is a much-needed antidote to the crude depictions of Russia that have filled the English-language media in recent years.-- "Harper's Magazine"

Stepanova's brilliance is matched only by her legendary difficulty. Rather than write in free verse, she sticks to the metric strictures of classic syllabotonic Russian poetry and fills traditional forms with a dizzying mix of references and registers, drawing on everything from Slavic folklore to social media.-- "Poetry Magazine"

2021 is the year of Stepanova.-- "The Guardian"

A volume of Maria Stepanova's work in English translation is long overdue, but this one, rendered by a dream team of the best translators and poets working today, has been worth the wait. The Voice Over offers a worthy tribute to Stepanova's multiple achievements: a rich selection of texts from Stepanova's poetry and translations of Stepanova's essays, both illuminated by Irina Shevelenko's expert introduction and commentary, framing Stepanova's writing with sophistication and insight.--Kevin M. F. Platt, founder of Your Language My Ear translation symposium

Stepanova's voice is a multipotent anthology of epic, lyric, and pure spell. She turns myth back into memory, heroes into humans, and her country's rush from one catastrophe to another into language. No translator who reads Stepanova's work thinks, 'I can do this.' This is a book prepared by people who believed in a poetic miracle and this miracle happened--to the English language above all.--Valzhyna Mort, author of Music for the Dead and Resurrected

About the Author

Maria Stepanova is the author of over ten poetry collections as well as three books of essays and the documentary novel In Memory of Memory. She is the recipient of several Russian and international literary awards.

Irina Shevelenko is professor of Russian in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

With translations by: Alexandra Berlina, Sasha Dugdale, Sibelan Forrester, Amelia Glaser, Zachary Murphy King, Dmitry Manin, Ainsley Morse, Eugene Ostashevsky, Andrew Reynolds, and Maria Vassileva.