"A Cloud in Trousers": life and oeuvre of Vladimir Mayakovsky

The poem was originally titled "The Thirteenth Apostle", but later it was changed. The protagonist (the poet) is described as "handsome, twenty-two-year-old man" consumed by passion for a woman named Maria. He is an anarchist, who denounces the old art and praises the streets, the "thirteenth apostle," calling for revolution, and, also a man who challenges God Himself.

Lilya Brik was an integral part of life and oeuvre of Vladimir Mayakovsky, who played a crucial role in his fate. They met in July 1915 at her parents’ countryside house in Malakhovka. There Mayakovsky read his then-unpublished poem "A Cloud in Trousers", and after receiving enthusiastic reviews, he dedicated it to the hostess — "To you, Lili." The poet would later call this day "the most joyous date".

Though the Briks were far removed from literary circles and primarily engaged in business, their support proved decisive for the fate of the poem.

Lecturer

Nina Scherbak, Associate Professor in the Department of English Philology and Cultural Linguistics at St Petersburg University, Master of Arts (the United Kingdom), a writer and screenwriter. She is also a scriptwriter for science television shows, author of fifteen monographs, and books on linguistics, literature, language philosophy, and English literature. 

The lecture will be streamed online in Russian with simultaneous translation into Spanish.

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