Nora Bux and Igor Loshchilov: “The Poetry of French and Russian Cabaret”

Pyotr Potemkin (1886–1926) was a poet, playwright, literary critic, translator, chess player, émigré, contributor to Satyrikon, and a regular at Fyodor Sologub’s literary evenings and Vyacheslav Ivanov’s “Tower.”

Aristide Bruant (1851–1925) was a French poet, chanson singer, and comedian, depicted on Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters in a black coat and red scarf. He was a successful club owner and an enthusiast of provocation, described as “the poet of beggars who lived in a castle.”

What did they have in common? They both lived in Paris—and may even have crossed paths, although there seems to be no evidence of this—and both wrote for cabarets.

Recently, French scholar Nora Buks, director of the Sorbonne’s Center for Slavic Studies, and literary scholar Igor Loshchilov, a researcher of the Russian avant-garde, prepared the first complete collection of Potemkin’s works. They are now working on a book of translations of Bruant’s poetic texts. In a new lecture, they will speak about these two very different and remarkable figures of the early twentieth-century literary scene.

Monday, September 7
Begins at 19:30
Admission: 70 shekels. Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling 053 272 72 92.

Address: 19 Allenby Street, Tel Aviv