And Everywhere Is Space

Viktor Alexandrovich Sosnora (1936–2019) — poet, playwright, prose writer, translator. A direct continuation of the traditions of Russian literary avant-garde and an undisputed classic, the creative legacy of which is yet to be understood. For many years, he headed a literary association in Leningrad. He started writing poetry at the age of sixteen, but very few of his early poems have been preserved — the author, by his own admission, experienced a "passion for self-destruction" and simply destroyed much of his work. His poems inspired by "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" brought him well-deserved fame: "In four months, I became famous, published in the most high-ranking party publications and entered the top four poets of the country." But his creativity did not obey any incentives or restrictions; he was an artist with some primordial, cosmic inner freedom. "I never wrote for the reader, nor for... nor for anyone! Worse yet, I'll tell you: I never wrote for myself either. It just finds some kind of state, you see... and... is written. And then it is no longer written." avant-garde, domestic poetry, poetry, Russian poetry, collection, poems.