Journey to Armenia & Conversation About Dante by Osip Mandelstam

‘At once a travel narrative, an allegorical journey, a withering comment on State-Building, a humanist philosophy of life, a preparation for death and a prophecy of resurrection (both for Armenia and for himself), this breathtaking, elliptical prose first appeared in the Soviet magazine Zvezda in 1933. Journey was the last piece Mandelstam saw published, and it takes its place among the outstanding masterpieces of twentieth century literature’ — Bruce Chatwin

This edition also includes the companion-piece, ‘Conversation about Dante’, ‘Osip Mandelstam’s astonishing fantasia on poetic creation’ (Seamus Heaney).

Read an enthralling review by Beatrice Otto at Writing Redux.

Read Seamus Heaney on Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam in the LRB.

J. M. Coetzee lauds Mandelstam in his collection on censorship, Giving Offence.