Dissident poet Lev Rubinstein dies after being hit by a motorist

“My father, Lev Rubinstein, died today.”Maria Rubinstein, his daughter, wrote on her blog on the site Live magazine, an announcement again in the Russian media. One line announces the death of the Russian poet and Kremlin critic on Sunday, January 14.

official company Interfax and opposition information platform Medusa Lev Rubinstein was hit by a motorist while crossing a street in the capital on January 8, and was later hospitalized in a critical condition at the Sklifosovsky Institute, with multiple fractures and a head injury.

In a press release, The Moscow Department of Transport Declaring that the driver did not slow down before crossing a pedestrian and knocked down the poet, he noted that according to preliminary data, the owner of the car had committed nineteen traffic violations in the past twelve months.

From Muscovite “opinionist” to critic of Putin's regime

Born in Moscow in 1947, a librarian by training, Lev Rubinstein was one of the figures of the Soviet underground literary scene of the 1970s and 1980s. “The New Avant-Garde” Likes to be smart and shameless. He is considered one of the founders of the movement in the 1970s “opinionist” The Muscovite, who scoffed at the official doctrine of socialist realism, wanted to go against it.

Lev Rubinstein created a unique genre linked to rhythm “card in text”Related to both poetry and drama: the poet wrote short sentences on stage, out loud, on punched cards.

Inspired by the day-to-day life of a librarian and the grim bureaucracy of the Soviet era, the performance combines performance, absurdist humor and improvisation. With the intention of shaking off Soviet insensitivity.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, his popularity in Russia grew. He is published in reputed publications and also works as a journalist. He has been invited to international poetry festivals and his works have been translated into many languages. In 1999, he won Andreï-Biély PrizeAn independent literary award was launched in 1978. In 2012, he received the Nos Prize, awarded by the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation, which rewards prose in Russian.

At the same time, the poet did not hide his views against the Putin regime, participated in political repression, human rights violations and protest demonstrations. In March 2022, along with other Russian writers, he signed an open letter calling for a large-scale attack on Ukraine by the Russian military. “Crime War” and castigating the “lie” You are the Kremlin.