Two late poems, 'Electron world' and 'Carousel'. 1922

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov (1873-1924)
Two late poems, 'Electron world' and 'Carousel'. 1922
Autograph manuscript poems, 'Mir elektrona' ('Electron world') and 'Karusel' ('Carousel'), n.p., n.d. [1922].

In Russian. Titles and 20 + 40 lines on two leaves, approx 360 x 222mm, numbered '2' and '4' in pencil beside the titles.

Mir elektrona
Byt' mozhet, eti elektrony
Miry, gde pyat' materikov,
Iskusstva, znan'ya, voyny, trony I pamyat' soroka vekov!
Yeshcho, byt' mozhet, kazhdyy atom —
Vselennaya, gde sto planet...

Karusel'
Iyul'skiy sumrak lepitsya
K sukhim vershinam lip;
Vsya prezhnyaya nelepitsa
Vlita v organnyy vskhlip...

Two late poems, the first a microscopic vision of the universes contained within the atom, the second an evocation of a fairground ride on a July evening. The composition of 'Electron word' is dated 13 August 1922, that of 'Carousel' to 12 July 1922. The text of 'Carousel' has a variant reading in line three.

Bryusov is one of the most prominent Russian Symbolist poets; his early poems were inspired by his translations of the French Symbolists. He was one of the few Symbolist poets to remain in Russia after 1917, and played an active part in the new Soviet literary institutions. 'Electron world' in particular is characteristic of his interest in the scientific and the exotic in his later poetry. Autographs by Bryusov are rare at international auction: ABPC and RBH record only three lots, the most recent in 2004.

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