Бажанов, А. Стихи и поэмы о саамском крае = Verses & poems on the Saami land / Аскольд Бажанов ; English translation by Naomi Caffee ; with an essay by Johanna Domokos. - Berlin : Nordeuropa-Institut der Humboldt-Universitat, 2009.

1 9 4 theater, Valerie Novarina, or the North Saami Nils-Aslak Valekapaa. For the latter I might suggest the Estonian Jaan Kaplinski, the Hun garian Bela Hamvas or the Hindi Rabindranat Tagore. Listening more acutely to Bazhanov’s voice, we can observe the constellation of liminal events characteristic of our postmodern world. Since the normal limits of thought, self-understanding, and behavior are re laxed, the poems can lead us to new perspectives. Many of the strongest points of Bazhanov’s poems are made through indirect inference, and readers w ill find themselves forced to read between the lines, paying as much attention to what is not said as to that which is. This leads to a unique and rewarding experience, as our encounter with Bazhanov’s poetry becomes an exploration of our selves and our perspectives. Like many of his people, Bazhanov creates on the borders o f several cultures in a liminal time and space. This is articulated in the poem »I, of course, am not flying into sp ace... « (p. 135), which presents an enriching situation that complicates reality. I, of course, am notflying into space, I will not saunter around the moon in a space suit, but my hometowns of Restikent and Vosmus are important landmarks for me. They will never be touched by decay, they will never be burned in the campfire, never lost, their longstanding patience will never wear out, and what would they criticize me for? I even had dreams in color, and treated them like a continuation o f the day! It’s the cosmos that sent its greetings, addressed especially to me. And the breezy river tried to lure fish into our nets. And the war - how it remained in our memory... - we might not have survived! Bazhanov’s liminality places the reader back in serene familiar sur roundings, not so much ambiguous as universal and archetypal. The combination of liminal spaces (e.g. the shores, passes, rivers, ravine,