Frame and Preparation
The Feeling Sonnets (excerpts)
Conceptual Frames and Background
- Translation
- Poetry
- Contemporary Literature
- Migration
- Jewish-German Studies
Introduction
Eugene Ostashevsky (b. 1968 – ) is a poet-translator who was born in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad, at the time). His family left Russia in 1979 “as a part of that period’s great Jewish exodus” and immigrated to the US, where he was raised in New York. He is currently largely based in Berlin and incorporates English, Russian, and German into his poetry.
Ostashevsky’s life and work could be placed in conversation with broad questions of translation and poetry, discussions of Jewish-German identity and literature, and experimentalism and multilingualism. Ostashevsky’s experience emigrating from the former Soviet Union, to the United States, and later living mostly in Berlin, for example, might be put into conversation with the growth in Jewish immigration Germany experienced in the 1990s from former Soviet Union countries.
For instructors interested in teaching this text as part of a larger unit or series of lessons, Ostashevsky could also be taught alongside the other German writers and artists he directly references in his work (Paul Celan; Uljana Wolf; Kurt Schwitters; Josef Albers).
Text and Discussion
Suggested Readings from The Feeling Sonnets:
- “Das Lied hat gelogen” (The actual title is a word in Russian, though the poem itself is written in German and English)
- “Die Schreibblockade” (poetry series)
- “Notes” (Ostashevsky’s notes on his own poems)
The level of this lesson is flexible, though probably more suitable for upper-division students: the German in Ostashevsky’s poem is fairly straightforward and could likely be read and analyzed by students with a range of German-language abilities. Instructors could tailor discussion questions in accordance with the student level and familiarity with German cultural studies and history.
Discussion Questions:
- How does Ostashevsky place himself in dialogue with Jewish-German literature, particularly poetry?
- Ostashevsky’s poem (“Das Lied has gelogen”) includes German translations of each English line, some of which deliberately diverge from the English. Where in the poem do you see this? How does the meaning change between lines? What difference does this make for the poem as a whole?
- Ostashevsky’s notes provide additional context on the languages he uses in his poem. Read through his notes and find a note that illuminates one of his poems. How does this comment influence your understanding of Ostashevsky’s poems and their wordplay?
Developed by Lena Grimm