I had to read Apollinaire for a class in college, and thought this book would give me another view of his work beyond just his influence in a creative writing classroom. I had never heard of Khlebnikov, but was also willing to give his poetry a try.

I did like a lot of things about this book. The introduction showed the thought the editor put into spelling the poets’ and artists’ names, which I hadn’t realized would have so many political implications. The biography/contextual material for each of the poets in each section also helped with reading the poems themselves. I also really enjoyed the inclusion of the illustrations for poems, which makes sense for two poets so heavily influenced and surrounded by visual artists. Some of the poems chosen also stopped me in my tracks occasionally, with lines like:

“People sit submissively to wait / for a miracle—but there are no miracles—or for death” (Khlebnikov)

and

“Everything here is so precious and new / That something older or something that has already served /Seems more precious / Than what is new and to hand” (Apollinaire).

My main issues with this book are mostly because of its disjointed nature. Some of the choices of poems felt arbitrary to fit a “structure” for the book that didn’t quite stick the landing, like when the fifth section (out of seven total) only featured poems from Khlebnikov, but the other six all featured poems from both poets. I also ended up having to keep track of significantly more names than I expected in a book ostensibly about two poets.

Overall, I am glad to have read this book, but it may not be a great fit for a casual poetry lover.

No art is created in a vacuum. I'd go further and say that nothing is every fully "created", in the sense that every author, poet, or artist builds upon the works of others and the things that the world offers up to them. But when the work of a poet, say, is presented to you in alittle book, devoid of all that, it can be hard to see how someone could come up with something like that. And because of that, I adore how Pushkin Press allowed Robert Chandler to format this book. Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of the things I enjoy most about medieval literature, when you really dive into it, is how free it is with its material. By that I mean that authorship looked very different, as there was a certain freedom for everyone to pick up story material and to make something new out of it. Don't get me wrong, copyright is a good thing, especially in this capitalist time, but there is something very collaborative to medieval storytelling which gets lost a little in modern literature, where each work has one creator and that's it. Into this situation comes Birds, Beasts and a World Made New (BBWMN), a book edited by Robert Chandler to show how the art, poetry, and writing of two 20th-century artists came about through collaboration and a mutual inspiration by the world around them. Although, as the blurb says, Apollinare and Khlebnikov never met themselves, they moved in similar circles and engaged in continuous creative collaborations with those around them. The art they created engaged with the world and time period they both shared and therefore interacts directly, even if the creators of that art did not. I absolutely adore the idea behind this book and I truly hope to see more works like this in the future that directly put artists, authors, poets, etc. into conversation with one another. It makes for a very enriching reading experience.

In BBWMN, Chandler brings together the works of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and Russian/Ukranian poet Velimir Khlebnikov. The book is structured into various sections, which look at specific themes in the works of both poets. The first, for example, is "Beasts" and looks at certain poems by Apollinaire and Khlebnikov's writing about birds. It also includes, which delighted me, poems by others, who translated Apollinaire's poems and were inspired by them. This inclusion adds texture to the book, showing how Apollinaire, Khlebnikov, and their art were not just in conversation with one another, but continue to start conversations with modern authors and poets. Each section also begins with an introduction, or rather, each section has background material on both Apollinaire and Khlebnikov, which precedes their material in the section. I hope that makes sense. For some, this background material might impede the enjoyment of reading the poems themselves, as it presents a lot of history and names one might not be familiar with. However, I think this is a question of how you approach the book. I myself read it in two different ways. First, I read the whole thing, background info and poetry. And then, I did a reread where I just read the poetry. Both work and both give you a different kind of information. I think the beauty of a book like BBWMN is that it can provide both, but you as the reader have to make a choice on what you want from it before you start reading.

My rating for this book is high in part because of its daring format, which I hope we will see more of. I will also say, however, that I very much enjoyed learning about these poets, Khlebnikov especially. I'll be keeping an eye out for more work from them and hopefully more volumes such as this!

Thanks to netgalley for the copy for review. I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice change of pace from the smutty romance books I’ve been reading and it kept me engaged and excited to keep reading for the afternoon. Will for sure be passing it on to friends and family!

I approached this collection expecting an intriguing selection of poems, but I was instead met with works of remarkable depth and quality. However, the reading experience was somewhat weighed down by the overly detailed introductions preceding each section.

That said, the poems stand out for their beauty and their ability to provide readers with fresh perspectives and profound reflection. Despite some reservations about the structure, this collection is worth reading for the intensity and value of its verses.

Re-illuminating two early modern poets

I'm not a poetry person but I was moved by Chandler's careful bringing together of two poets whose work touches on similar themes and motifs, although they never knew each other. The contextual texts around each theme helped to bring to life the poets and their times, the early 20th century around the First World War. Of course war figures in these poems, lyrically translated here, but also the birds and beast of the title, friendships, love and other daily concerns.

Four and a half stars, rounded up to five.

This poetry collection recalls a time and tells a story. Perhaps it's not right to call it a poetry collection, not because it isn't one, but because that's not all it is. Most of the book consists of selections of poetry from Guillaume Apollinaire and Velimir Khlebnikov juxtaposed by themed grouping. But there is also backstory and biography included throughout as well as in the book's final section.

One might wonder why anyone would construct a two-poet collection featuring a Frenchman and a Russian. Well, the two men did have a number of things in common, most disturbingly that they both died young in the early twentieth century. Apollinaire died at age 38 in 1918 and Khlebnikov died at 36 in 1922. The fact that these men's writing careers so overlapped is one of the reasons the book works. They waded through a common zeitgeist. Another commonality that makes the collection relevant and intriguing is that both poets had a penchant for experimentalism in their work.

Seeing the work of these poet's organized as the volume does, one recognizes both similarities and differences. This includes the fact that the tone of each poet's work ranges widely from whimsical to the brutal morosity of poems on war and the suffering it entails.

I found this collection to offer a powerful reading experience and would recommend it highly to all poetry readers.

If you are a fan of poetry in any way, if you feel it in your bones, then this informational, eye opening book is undoubtedly for you.

tbh los poemas estuvieron lindos, pero tanta intro a cada autor lo hacia tedioso. Entiendo que sea para conocer de donde proviene el poema y demás, pero repito, era demasiado tedioso

“Birds, Beasts and a World Made New” is a fascinating new collection of the translated work of Guillaume Apollinaire and Velimir Khlebnikov, two poets whose formal experiments reshaped modernist poetry in their own right. What makes this collection stand out is the way it encourages readers to think about how these two poets, from different cultural and political contexts, were both challenging the traditional forms of their time. Apollinaire’s calligrams break out of the usual structure of the poem, playing with space and visual elements in ways that feel bold even now. Meanwhile, Khlebnikov’s obsession with sound, neologisms, and the shape of words on the page pushes language itself into unfamiliar territory. It’s rare for a book to bring together the study of two poets in this way—letting their works speak to each other and allowing readers to see how, despite their different backgrounds, they were exploring similar themes. The book gives us the chance to follow how both poets responded to the upheavals of their time, like war and revolution, and how their formal experiments became a way to process and express those experiences.

Fascinating!
At first, I was apprehensive about the quantity of background information and context provided before the poems but I thought it perfectly balanced in a way which truly enhanced the reading of the poetry.
Apollinaire’s poems were beautifully translated, I only knew the French versions but was highly satisfied with their English ones.
Each section offered a different vision of the world, and it did feel like holding pieces of it in my hands.
For some reasons, I mentally matched “Beasts” in the title with the war poems, giving them quite a interesting look!

Birds, Beasts and a World Made New can only be described as a special book. It is more than just a collection of selected poems by Guillame Apollinaire and Velimir Khlebnikov. There is not only context added, but there are also interpretations and translations that are just done with so much obvious love. So many things that would get lost in translation are thoroughly explained in an effort to make the reader understand how special and unique the writing was. The admiration for those two poets shines through in every single page.

Every part of the book begins with somewhat of an introduction, explaining the way the poets were living at the time, what was happening to them and what other people said about them. Only then do the poems start and as incredible as they are already on their own, they really shine when you understand when and why they have been written.

I love that the author included the women around them. Some of Vera Khlebnikova’s drawings are included in the book and the author even talks about the way she tends to be forgotten. Madeleine Pagés’ memoir about first meeting Apollinaire is so tenderly written, so beautiful, I am so glad it was included.

And of course, the poems themselves. Gorgeous poetry. I hadn’t known Khlebnikov and Apollinaire beforehand and I was just swept off my feet honestly. One of Apollinaire’s war poems has especially captured my heart with this verse:

‘But why does the state feed on people? Why does a Fatherland become a people-eater, and a Motherland become his wife?’

As someone who lives by the Rhine, I also really loved Lorelei. Venus And The Shaman was just beautifully written, it read like a Fable. And it is absolutely fascinating how in the ‘Menagerie’ Khlebnikov slowly starts drawing parallels from animals to humans which gets more and more scathing as the poem goes on.

So tldr: go pick up this book. You won’t regret it.