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I edited this post so Tom's commentary comes first, then the Dedication and column
The column I wrote on Steve illustrates what a huge impact he had on my life. It seems like every time I publish a new book, I lose a dear mentor: my Dad with PNM, Art Cebrowski with BFA, and now Steve Meussling, my brother-in-law, with
Great Powers.
It was hard to pursue the book absent Steve's encouragement, but I am reminded of Coldplay's song, "42":
Those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head.
And since I fell for that spell, I am living there as well.
Time is so short, and I'm sure, there must be something wrong.
I miss Steve a lot, but nothing like his little sister does.
My great lasting memory: taking Steve and his little brother Todd and my father-in-law Carl to Lambeau in 2005.
The poem is my favorite by
Mikhail Lermontov, famous primarily as the author of the short novel,
Hero of our Time, a description of tsarist Russia's "superfluous men." You can locate Osama bin Laden, as well as a host of upper-class revolutionaries, in that text if you read closely enough.
"Parus" (p√°r-russ), or "The Sail," was the first Lermontov poem I translated in my Russian classes at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1980s. After a particular Pushkin poem, a line from which constituted my dedication to Vonne and the kids in BFA, this one is my second all-time favorite Russian poem--period.
The Russian version (obviously, the original) goes like this:
–ü–∞—Ä—É—Å
–ë–µ–ª–µ–µ—Ç –ø–∞—Ä—É—Å –æ–¥–∏–Ω–æ–∫–∏–π ‚Ä®
–í —Ç—É–º–∞–Ω–µ –º–æ—Ä—è –≥–æ–ª—É–±–æ–º!.. ‚Ä®
–ß—Ç–æ –∏—â–µ—Ç –æ–Ω –≤ —Å—Ç—Ä–∞–Ω–µ –¥–∞–ª–µ–∫–æ–π?
–ß—Ç–æ –∫–∏–Ω—É–ª –æ–Ω –≤ –∫—Ä–∞—é —Ä–æ–¥–Ω–æ–º?..
–ò–≥—Ä–∞—é—Ç –≤–æ–ª–Ω—ã--–≤–µ—Ç–µ—Ä —Å–≤–∏—â–µ—Ç, ‚Ä®
–ò –º–∞—á—Ç–∞ –≥–Ω–µ—Ç—Å—è –∏ —Å–∫—Ä–∏–ø–∏—Ç... ‚Ä®
–£–≤—ã, -- –æ–Ω —Å—á–∞—Å—Ç–∏—è –Ω–µ –∏—â–µ—Ç ‚Ä®
–ò –Ω–µ –æ—Ç —Å—á–∞—Å—Ç–∏—è –±–µ–∂–∏—Ç!
–ü–æ–¥ –Ω–∏–º —Å—Ç—Ä—É—è —Å–≤–µ—Ç–ª–µ–π –ª–∞–∑—É—Ä–∏, ‚Ä®
–ù–∞–¥ –Ω–∏–º –ª—É—á —Å–æ–ª–Ω—Ü–∞ –∑–æ–ª–æ—Ç–æ–π... ‚Ä®
–ê –æ–Ω, –º—è—Ç–µ–∂–Ω—ã–π, –ø—Ä–æ—Å–∏—Ç –±—É—Ä–∏, ‚Ä®
–ö–∞–∫ –±—É–¥—Ç–æ –≤ –±—É—Ä—è—Ö –µ—Å—Ç—å –ø–æ–∫–æ–π.
–ú–∏—Ö–∞–∏–ª –õ–µ—Ä–º–æ–Ω—Ç–æ–≤, 1832.
It's quite beautiful to recite in Russian.
Dedication from GREAT POWERS, to be published by G. P. Putnam's on February 5, 2009.
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