George Reavey (1907–1976)

Reavey's remarkable foresight is shown by the fact that the anthology ends with seven poems by Brodsky, then in his mid-20s and condemned to hard labor after his famous 1964 trial for "parasitism"; in the introduction Reavey says: "Iosif Brodsky is perhaps the strangest and most isolated of the poets. In a sense, everything is still ahead for him..." Indeed, including a Nobel Prize and poetic immortality.

The stories and excerpts in this collection, as a rule, are not particularly good. However, the collection of excerpts, as well as the analysis, the criticism and poetry sections, collectively paint a picture of the Soviet literary scene across the 20s and early 30s.

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