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Barukh Klain
"Vesti" Newspaper, Israel, May 17 2001
We come from a land that was proudly called the most "well-read" country in the world. Without commenting on this statement, I would like to say that by coming here we have turned this country into the one that "writes" the most.
Nowadays there are several Russian literary magazines in Israel and the number of books published here in Russian is impossible to count… Russian writers from all over the world - Russia, Germany, Ukraine, U.S. - publish their books here in our country.
Vadim Babenko, who has lived in Washington D.C. since 1992, recently published a collection of poems in Tel Aviv. Two anthologies of his poetry as well as a poetic prose book called "In the Unnamed Seas" have been published in Russia and the United States, meeting with broad acclaim in the reading public. His latest florilegium, "The Refuge of the Stunned Ark", has been published in Israel and includes his best works from 1989 to 1996, some of which have never been published before. His classical style combined with an ability to create seamless links between different literary forms make Vadim Babenko an interesting representative of the post-Brodsky period.
We do not intend to retell the stories, for the best way to get acquainted with a writer is to simply read his poetry.
Myriads of books are available in Russian these days, so a book must appear attractive to catch the reader's eye. And here "The Refuge of the Stunned Ark" is a complete success, being the premiere from the new publishing house SeferIsrael, which did its best to meet the highest standards.
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