Joseph Brodsky : a literary life / Lev Loseff ; translated by Jane Ann Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Losev, Lev, 1937-2009.

Contributor:

Miller, Jane Ann.

Standardized Title:

Iosif Brodskii. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brodsky, Joseph, 1940-1996.

Brodsky, Joseph.

Authors, Russian--20th century--Biography.

Authors, Russian.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (350 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The work of Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), one of Russia's great modern poets, has been the subject of much study and debate. His life, too, is the stuff of legend, from his survival of the siege of Leningrad in early childhood to his expulsion from the Soviet Union and his achievements as a Nobel Prize winner and America's poet laureate. In this penetrating biography, Brodsky's life and work are illuminated by his great friend, the late poet and literary scholar Lev Loseff. Drawing on a wide range of source materials, some previously unpublished, and extensive interviews with writers and critics, Loseff carefully reconstructs Brodsky's personal history while offering deft and sensitive commentary on the philosophical, religious, and mythological sources that influenced the poet's work. Published to great acclaim in Russia and now available in English for the first time, this is literary biography of the first order, and sets the groundwork for any books on Brodsky that might follow.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Note On Translations And Sources

Chapter One: Home. Parents. First Impressions (War). Heredity. The Lessons Of The City. School Days. Outskirts. Real Education. Brodsky As Jew.

Chapter Two: First Jobs. Expeditions. Social Status. Early Reading. Winds From The West. Modernism. Poetry. Leningrad Poetry, Late 1950's. Brodsky's Early Verse. Persecution-Prosecution. Umansky And His Circle. Incident In Samarkand.

Chapter Three: The Beginnings Of A Style. Boris Slutsky: Meter, Rhyme, Composition, Intonation. Leningrad Literary Circles. Evgeniy Rein: The Art Of The Elegy. Akhmatova. Marina Basmanova And New Stanzas To Augusta.

Chapter Four: Annus Mirabilis, 1964-1965: Ideology. Persecution In Leningrad. Kanatchikov Dacha And "Songs Of A Happy Winter." Arrest And Preliminary Hearing. Pryazhka. The Trial. Support For Brodsky And International Fame. Prison.

Chapter Five: Annus Mirabilis, 1964-1965: Exile To Norenskaya. Brodsky And Basmanova. Anglo-American Poetry. Epiphany In Norenskaya. Back From Exile.

Chapter Six: After Exile: 1965-1972. Attempts At Publishing A Book. A Halt In The Desert. Long Poems (1): "Isaac And Abraham." Long Poems (2): "Gorbunov And Gorchakov." Leaving The Ussr.

Chapter Seven: The World According To Brodsky. Poetry And Politics. Motherland: Us And Them. Brodsky's Asia. Questions Of Faith. The World According To Brodsky (Conclusion). Existentialism.

Chapter Eight: Arrival In The West: Auden. Brodsky In America. Carl Proffer And Ardis. The End Of A Beautiful Era And A Part Of Speech: A Philosophy Of Prosody. The End Of A Beautiful Era And A Part Of Speech: Publication. Brodsky The Professor. Brodsky In New York. Travels. Friends And Foes. Nonmeetings: Brodsky And Nabokov. Brodsky And Solzhenitsyn Speak To America. Afghanistan And Poland. Brodsky And Solzhenitsyn.

Chapter Nine: Fame And Fortune. The Politics And Morals Of The American Campus. Brodsky And The Erotic. Urania. Brodsky In English. Essays. The Nobel Prize.

Chapter Ten: Changes At Home. Democracy ! Busy Years: 1990-1995. Illness. "Being-Toward-Death." Death.

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Originally published: Moscow : Molodaia gvardiia, 2006, under title Iosif Brodskii : Opyt literaturnoi biografii.

Translated from the Russian.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-09612-9

9786613096128

0-300-16302-9

OCLC:

923595638