The Black Man

"Life is a cheap but necessary thing. After all, I am the 'God's Pipe'" - said Sergei Yesenin shortly before his mysterious death. A hooligan, a spendthrift, the 'last poet of the village', a regular at Moscow taverns - none... of these descriptions reveal the mysterious essence of the great Russian poet, who, in the words of Andrei Bely, possessed a "huge and fragrant talent". Time and again, readers seek their own paths to understanding Yesenin, confronting the power of his lyrical gift. It is no wonder that Maxim Gorky recalled one of the performances of the celebrated hooligan: "he moved me to spasms in my throat, I wanted to cry".

The book includes selected poems of the poet, the poems "Inonia" and "The Black Man", the short story "The Clearing", as well as memories of Vladislav Khodasevich about Sergei Yesenin, who became a true symbol of the Russian Silver Age. The edition is accompanied by illustrations by Oleg Redium.