[Marxism] Fwd: It's No Good by Kirill Medvedev – n+1 Shop

[Louis Proyect]

Kirill Medvedev is a young Russian poet who in 2003 rejected the Moscow 
literary world for its corruption and irrelevance. In the years since, 
he has protested the Putin regime on the streets of Moscow, written long 
essays about the post-Soviet intelligentsia, and taken his poetry in new 
directions. "I am interested," Medvedev has written, "exclusively in the 
artist undertaking a 'battle for his art'—which in our own time will 
mean a battle for his position. The meaning of this is contained not in 
one or another social function, but, to the contrary, in the ability to 
see, without distortion by one's social standing, without limitations by 
one's artistic milieu." This book, co-published with Ugly Duckling 
Presse, collects Medvedev's poetry, essays, and manifestos from the past 
decade.

"In his most eloquent essay, 'My Fascism,' Medvedev defines poetry as 
'the maximal expression, via the medium of language, of this or that 
authentic way of seeing.' And it is this—the quest for an authentic way 
of seeing—that leads to Medvedev's wholesale rejection, a 'no' upon 
which a 'yes' might be built. He calls it a 'rebellion of humanism.' For 
Americans, and especially for American writers and artists, Medvedev's 
texts must have the force of a clarion call." —Michael Robbins, Chicago 
Tribune

"A shrewd and irritable observer of the petty (and not-so-petty) 
corruptions of the Russian literary world...Part of the nightmare world 
that It’s No Good evokes is one that both Orwell and the members of 
Pussy Riot would understand. It’s a nightmare of euphemism and cant. 
'This is what happens,' Mr. Medvedev writes, 'when the authorities don’t 
want to speak clearly and don’t want to be spoken of clearly, either.'" 
—Dwight Garner, New York Times

"It's No Good is an event. Archimedes said: Give me a place to stand, 
and a long enough lever, and I'll move the world. Kirill Medvedev and 
his translators have given American readers another place to stand, a 
kind of Zuccotti of the mind. Now if only we can keep our grip on the 
lever." —Garth Risk Hallberg, The Millions

As seen in n+1 Issues 6 and 14, as well as Occupy! Gazette number 4.

Translated by Keith Gessen with Mark Krotov,
Cory Merrill, and Bela Shayevich
Edited, introduced, and annotated by Keith Gessen
Designed by Don't Look Now!
Smyth-sewn. 286 pp, 5.75 x 8.25"
Publication date: Second Edition, 2016
Co-published with Ugly Duckling Presse (EEPS 30)

http://shop.nplusonemag.com/collections/featured/products/its-no-good?mc_cid=a9919d8873&mc_eid=9e8030f4b0