A schoolgirl in the Far East recited the lyrics of a Russian rap song in literature class, presenting them as the work of Soviet-era poet Osip Mandelshtam — and was awarded an “A” by her teacher, the Meduza news website reported Wednesday.
A video, apparently taken by the girl's classmates in the city of Khabarovsk and posted online, showed the girl standing in front of the class and presenting a soulful recitation of the lyrics of rapper Oxxxymiron's song ?€?Perepleteno?€? (Intertwined).
A fellow student ?€” who appeared to recognize the lyrics' author ?€” could be heard giggling in the background.
On Thursday the director of the school explained to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that the girl was not trying to deceive the teacher ?€” the students were assigned to compare a piece of classic literature to a modern piece. The girl confirmed to the TJournal news website that she was simply completing an assignment.
Oxxxymiron ?€” whose real name is Miron Fyodorov, and who is an Oxford University graduate with a degree in English literature ?€” seemed to enjoy the incident, saying via Twitter it tells ?€?a bit about liberal arts education.?€?
Russia has recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of Mandelshtam's Jan. 15, 1891 birthday, with programs broadcast about his legacy ?€” and high-school assignments related to his poetry.
Mandelshtam is widely viewed as one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century. He was a nonconformist who did little to disguise his opposition to dictator Josef Stalin's regime and was harshly persecuted by Soviet authorities.
He was arrested in 1934 after writing the epigram ?€?Kremlin Highlander,?€? which harshly lampoons Stalin and describes the fear that permeated the country under his rule. Mandelshtam read the poem at a few small private gatherings.
Russian writer Boris Pasternak, a winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, called the epigram an ?€?act of suicide.?€? But somewhat miraculously, the 1934 arrest resulted in neither a death sentence nor a long term in a Gulag camp, but in exile.
Mandelshtam was arrested again in 1938 and this time sentenced to the gulags. He died in a transit camp later that year and was buried in an unmarked mass grave.
Soviet authorities ?€?rehabilitated?€? Mandelshtam of the 1934 charges three years after Stalin's 1953 death, but did not clear him of the 1938 charges until the late 1980s ?€” during the tenure of Soviet reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Ahead of Mandelshtam's 125th anniversary, the head of Russia's federal agency for media development, Mikhail Seslavinsky, called for naming a street or park in Moscow in the poet's honor, the state TASS news agency reported at the time.
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