Yesenin, S.

[SCANDALOUS YESENIN] Ispoved’ khuligana [i.e. Confessions of a Hooligan]

Moscow: Imazhinisty, 1921.

Item #4184

[12] pp. 22,5x17 cm. In original printed wrappers. In a very good condition, pale stains and small tear of the front cover.

First publication of the legendary Imaginist poem ‘Ispoved’ khuligana’, as well as earlier poems ‘Khuligan’ (without title) and ‘Sorokoust’.
Sergey Yesenin (1895-1925) moved to Moscow in the 1910s and gained a reputation as an unreliable young man due to close relations with Bolsheviks. After the Revolution, he “enthusiastically worked and participated in demonstrations”, collaborated with a short-lived avant-garde collective ‘Segodnia’ (Today). In 1918, Yesenin met Anatoly Marienhof, visited a literary studio of the Moscow Proletkult, as well as a literary evening of futurists Vasilii Kamenskii and Vadim Shershenevich.
In the fall of 1918, Marienhof initiated the creation of the Imaginism movement and established the Order of Imaginists gathering Yesenin, Shershenevich, R. Ivnev, B. Erdman and N. Erdman, G. Iakulov, A. Kusikov, M. Roizman, I. Gruzinov. Soon Yesenin became a leading figure of this circle. In early 1919, all mentioned people signed the manifesto of Imaginism and published it in Voronezh periodical ‘Sirena’. According to their Declaration, imaginists opposed themselves to the «bald symbolists» and «a loud guy ten years old» [Futurism]. The latter became a particular target of attacks, and Imaginists were in continuous polemics with V. Mayakovsky.
The group declared itself disputing with other groups, reciting the manifesto and publishing various works by the members. For four years of its existence, the publishing house has published about 40 books, as well as four issues of a magazine ‘Hotel for Travelers in the Marvelous’. V. Khodasevich called imaginists “the sinister society” - their performances were always accompanied by scandals. Marienhof remembered: “When Yesenin was premiering a poem ‘Sorokoust’ [i.e. A forty days’ requiem] to a public of an imaginist evening, its first stanza evoked an unequivocal intention not to let Yesenin read further; the whistle of the audience reminded of a tropical storm and fists were used as well”.
The provisional title of this book was ‘Teliach’ia radost’ [Veal Joy]. The first literary piece was untitled until 1922 and later was named just ‘Hooligan’. Without the name, this poem was one of the most often read in public and its lines were used by Georgy Iakulov for the design of the bohemian tavern ‘Stable Pegasus’ in 1919.
‘Confessions of a Hooligan’ made its author one of the most popular poets of the time. In regards to this poem, Yesenin wrote: “I feel like a master of Russian poetry and therefore I am pulling words of all shades into the poetic speech, there are no unclean words. There are only unclean ideas. The embarrassment of my bold word lies not to me, but to the reader or listener” (March 20, 1923).
In two years after these words, Yesenin committed suicide. The same year, the politician N. Bukharin wrote a critical article ‘Evil Notes’, denouncing ‘Yeseninism’ as “the most harmful phenomenon of [that] literary day deserving real scourging”. Since 1925, the official criticism posthumously blamed the poet for “kulak sentiments”. Despite the only poem ‘The Song of the Great Campaign’ (1925) was banned for names of Trotsky and Zinoviev mentioned, Yesenin’s heritage was always under suspicion. It was published very selectively, with cuts and sometimes was prohibited at all. The lifetime editions of Yesenin’s poems were located in limited access storages.

Worldcat shows paper copies located in Harvard and Pennsylvania Universities, Getty Institute.

Price: $1,500.00