“This commendable book is a well-informed cultural history of Walt Whitman reception in many countries. Delphine Rumeau and her assisting multilingual, informed researchers have done us all a great service.”—Martin Bidney, Slavic Review“The book deals with a “distant reading” of the fate of Whitman’s poetry after Whitman, embracing a large scope of authors (Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, German, French, Brazilian, and so on) and offering an encyclopedic view of the international Whitmania. Rumeau explains her method as the study of cultural transfers, with a focus on factual evidence and a historical perspective.”—Nataliya Karageorgos, The Russian Review“Rumeau’s informative, fruitful study adds to the ongoing critical discourse about the role of the poet and poetry, the link between the poetic and the political, and the inheritance that Whitman has left us (as we choose to interpret this legacy). In the ever-evolving field of Whitman’s reception, this book is a treat for scholars, and anyone who appreciates Whitman, anywhere in the world”.—Dara Barnat, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review“Rumeau weaves a rich tapestry of strands far beyond the Russian-Soviet image of Whitman. She displays a cast of Russian-American intermediaries who shaped a socialist Whitman in Yiddish translations and a nation-building Whitman for Israel in Hebrew. Though much more awaits, Rumeau references Whitman exports into the languages of the Russian and Soviet empires and she charts the path for transnational studies of Whitman world-wide. ‘Salut au Monde’, indeed!”—Dale Peterson, The Slavonic and East European Review“Delphine Rumeau’s Comrade Whitman is a powerful contribution to global literary studies. Her detailed, incisive account of Whitman’s Russian and Soviet reception not only transforms our knowledge of Whitman and his legacy, but it also gives a new account of literary internationalism itself.”—Rebecca Beasley, University of Oxford"Although the innovative focus on Whitman in Russia and the Soviet Union may suggest otherwise, this is the first study that establishes Whitman as a truly global poet. A landmark in Whitman research proving that some poetry can break all bounds."—Walter Grünzweig, TU Dortmund University and Andrássy Universität Budapest; author of Constructing The German Walt Whitman“Just as Walt Whitman’s poetry collection Leaves of Grass became a paradigmatic work of world literature, so, too, Delphine Rumeau’s study of its reception in Russia and among the international left over the century between the 1880s and the 1980s embodies the very best of contemporary world literature studies. Erudite and multilingual, profoundly historic and featuring excellent close readings, Comrade Whitman is a pleasure to read.”—Rossen Djagalov, New York University; author of From Internationalism to Postcolonialism: Literature and Cinema between the Second and the Third World (2020)“Whitman was a communist internationalist avant la lettre. His verse took the socialist world by storm at a time when the nascent Soviet Union was at the center of an internationalist utopian drive. In this superb book about translation, form, and the politics of the transnational left, Delphine Rumeau shows how the author of Leaves of Grass transforms the way that writers around the world, from Moscow to Madrid, thought about poetry.” —Amelia Glaser, University of California San Diego
