Soviet Poet Evtushenko To Read Here in Spring

Evgenij Evtushenko, the flamboyant young Russian poet, will visit Harvard in the spring for two public speaking engagements, Jaime Urrutia '64, outgoing president of the Harvard Advocate disclosed yesterday. The Advocate is sponsoring Evtushenko's stay, in conjunction with the Slavic department.

The poet's stop in Cambridge will be part of a tour of college campuses arranged by Indiana University. Urrutia said that the State Department has given willing consent to the plan and that the Soviet Government has said nothing against it.

Although the details of the visit are uncertain at present. Urrutia said Evtushenko is expected to deliver a public lecture, with translator, on the role of the artist in society, and to give a reading of his poems in Russian to a smaller audience. He has also expressed a desire to meet with students in classes and lectures, Urrutia said.

Poet's Second Visit Here

The twenty-nine year old Evtushenko came to Harvard for his first time in the spring two years ago when he gave a reading of his poetry but showed a stronger desire to see Club 47 than do anything else. One slavic student who attended his reading then recalls Evtushenko asking "Where are the beatniks?"

Evtushenko is considered the idol of Russian youth and the intellectual leader of the "new wave" of poets and artists who have come into prominence since the losening of the ties on cultural growth and expression in the Soviet Union.

Though highly critical of several aspects of Russian life, particularly Stalinism, anti-Semitism, and bureaucratic control, the poet is a loyal Communist and has the sanction of the Soviet government. He has recently published in Pravda despite much violent criticism aimed at some of his writing from various Soviet quarters.

Also in the Spring, the Advocate will sponsor readings by Vladimir Nabokov and Norman Mailer, said Urrutia. The dates have not yet been announced.