Alexander Voloshin (1884-1960) was born in the Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. He had a career in theater, but World War I intervened and he became part of the Imperial Army. Then the Russian Revolution happened, and he found himself involved in the White-Red Civil War. When the Communists triumphed, Voloshin remained briefly in the Crimea. That was followed by a travel odyssey to Berlin, Brazil, and then Ellis Island. After a time in New York City, he made his way to Los Angeles and Hollywood, like thousands of other émigré Russians.
In Hollywood, he worked as a waiter and as an extra in movies. He was an actor in some 12 movies, the best known of which was “The World and the Flesh” (1932), starring Miriam Hopkins. The movie, set during the Russian Revolution, is about a rather nasty Communist revolutionary (Hollywood was big on Russian Revolution movies at the time). After his last role in 1937 (“Daughter of Shanghai,” starring Anna May Wong), Voloshin tried founding a theater magazine and writing for other publications.
Voloshin was also a poet. He published one work, a saga of the Russian émigré experience from the revolution to his contemporary day. The work disappeared, until poet and translator Boris Dralyuk found a copy. Dralyuk has a deep interest in the Russian émigré experience; last year, he published his own poetry collection entitled My Hollywood.
Dralyuk translated and published Voloshin’s poem under its original title, Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood.
Some Tuesday Readings
Up on the Hill’s Back – poem by David Whyte.
Poetry Prompt: Meet Your Muse Euterpe – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry.
The Chronicles of Never – poem by Baruch November at Every Day Poems.
“The Day of Judgment,” poem by Isaac Watts – Josph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
A Review of Petrarch’s Canzoniere, translated by A.M. Juster – Richard Wakefield at New Verse Review.
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