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Vladimir Korvin-Piotrovsky wrote this poem in Berlin in 1930; it was published in Rul in January 1931. Although the Russian Poetry Club, created in 1928, was active, with Piotrovsky and Vladimir Nabokov among its leading members, Berlin’s Russian society was by then very much diminished. The Visitor, written in the first person, communicates the ( Read more... )

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FAVOR, by Mihail Kuzmin (Михаил Кузмин), a poem written in Berlin, in May 1922:

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ПОРУЧЕНИЕЕсли будешь, странник, в Берлине ( Read more... )

Raisa Bloch (1899-1943) - yet another Russian poet who did not like Berlin's melancholic climate in the 1920s. Later, exiled in France, in spite of her bravery and decication to helping others, she and her family suffered a tragic fate in the hands of the Nazi ( Read more... )

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An interesting early-19th century poem by the amateur author Maria Bolotnikova. Though flawed in every aspect - even the spelling - the poem nonetheless has a curious feminist charge. My loose translation is below.

Мария Болотникова. Упрек мущинамКакое преступленье ( Read more... )

While researching the life of Wang Yiting, painter, tycoon and philanthropist, I came across a Qing-era commentary on the art market, penned by Zheng Xie in 1759:

"'A large hanging scroll costs six taels, a medium-sized one is four, a small scroll costs two. Couplet and streamer are one tael a pair, while fan and album leaf are a half-tael each. ( Read more... )