The First Encounter

First published in Russian in 1921 and never translated, Andrey Bely's long narrative poem―considered to be one of the great achievements of Russian Modernism―is translated to English here. A poet, critic, philosopher, and novelist, Bely was a leading figure among the Russian Symbolists, and The First Encounter is thought to be his greatest work in verse. The poem is autobiographical and reflects turn of-the-century Moscow with its mixture of entrenched positivism and new spiritualistic trends, cultural variety and the upheaval of the time.