The West (Mayakovsky)


The West is a ten-poem-cycle by Vladimir Mayakovsky written in 1922-1924 after his extensive foreign tour which included visits to Latvia, Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. It was followed in 1925 by an eight-poem cycle Paris, inspired by the impressions from his visit to France. Originally the two cycles were seen as separate collections. Compiling the material for the first edition of The Works by V.V. Mayakovsky the author put them under one heading.
The 1922-1924 poems were published originally in the USSR, mostly by Izvestiya newspaper. Five of his French poems first appeared in Parizhsky Vestnik, a short-lived newspaper which was based in Paris, sub-titled Messager russe de Paris and supported by the Soviet Embassy in the city.

Poems

''The West''

Mayakovsky spent November and December 1924 in France. These impressions inspired eight poems written in the late 1924-early 1925. On his way to the USA, in May of that year he came to the offices of :ru:Парижский вестник|Parizhsky Vestnik and left there five poems with the permission to publish them.