Igor Guberman

Gariki are mostly humorous and often paradoxical, verging on philosophical.

• Name — Igor Mironovich Guberman • Native Name — Игорь Миронович Губерман • Born — 7 July 1936 • Birthplace — Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR • Education — Moscow State University of Railway Engineering • Occupation — poetry, literature

Igor Guberman was born in Kharkiv on July 7, 1936. After high school, he entered the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering. In 1958, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked as an electrical engineer for several years and wrote on the side in his spare time. Toward the end of the 1950s, he was introduced to Alexander Ginzburg, who published Syntax, one of the first samizdat periodicals, as well as to other underground philosophers, writers, and artists. For some time he worked as a secretary to the great Russian poet David Samoylov, and also as a ghostwriter for hire. At first, Guberman wrote popular science books (such as "Third Triumvirate"), but he gradually became more and more active as a dissident poet. Guberman published his underground work under the pseudonyms I. Mironov and Abram Khayyam, connecting the names of the famous Persian poet Omar Khayyám and the Jewish first name Abram. In 1979, Guberman was arrested and sentenced based on fabricated charges to five years in the Soviet labor colonies. He based his book, Walks Around the Barracks (written in 1980, published in 1988), on the diaries he kept during this time. In 1984, Guberman returned from Siberia. For a long time, he could get neither a job nor a residence permit (Propiska) to live in Moscow. In 1987, he emigrated from the USSR to Israel, and since 1988 he has been living in Jerusalem. He visits Russia quite frequently to attend poetry readings. Books by Guberman have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Russia and in countries with Russian immigrant communities, with whom they are always popular.

Examples of Guberman's quatrains: Those fervid leaders of parties and classes Have to this detail ignorance displayed That an idea thrown before the masses Is like a harlot thrown to a brigade. I’m sorry for the stars above that shine, And sorry for the Earth beneath our feet It’s scary that satiated pigs and swine Are scarier than wild wolves who need to eat. Don't race to keep up with the century, Stay a human being. Or else you'll find yourself in deep shit Together with that century.