Gáti István - A Puskin-trojka

István Gáti's poems are always characterized by a sure sense of form, light elegance and sometimes surprising ideas. He understands how to rephrase everyday experiences and events that we all can relate to in an almost philosophical, yet simple way.
Now a very strange thing occurred to him. His beloved poet, Pushkin, made the mistake of writing most of his stories in prose. However, as he showed in Anyegin, he could have written them in verse as well. Perhaps even more concise and exciting than in prose.
So István Gáti has now replaced these missing little masterpieces. He wrote three stories about Pushkin, as well as an account of Pushkin's death in Anyegin's verse form. This is a very exciting, witty, original form of verse, actually a sonnet, with a clever little rhyme scheme, the rhyming of the two tercina differs from Petrarch's and Shakespeare's sonnets, the lines are shorter, which makes the whole thing more rhythmically excited and requires constant continuation - that's why it's so suitable to tell a story. You'd think it's almost over, and then it twists one more time. Connoisseurs of Pushkin stories will happily recognize the classic stories, while those who do not know these stories can get to know them completely and even get the Anyegin atmosphere.
This poetic process is called pastiche in the trade. Pastiche differs from parody in that, while the latter has an ironic relationship with the original work, pastiche illuminates the original work with its own special tools. It is a special achievement to write a pastiche in such a way that the author celebrates two types of work by a single creator at the same time - the narratives and Anyegin. And I promise, it's also special for reading.

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