Already slightly known here through translation from the Russian,
the late poet's work is presented in a fine selection. The clarity
and force of the poems come through in the translation by Richard
McKane as a bit reminiscent of ancient Japanese poetry and remind
one also of William Carlos Williams. As co-founder of the Acmiest
movement Akhmatova played a part in shaping modern Russian poetry,
breaking from Symbolism. There are moving love lyrics and of
particular interest are poems like "Requiem," in which the poet
speaks of her struggles during the Stalinist era. The poems are
incisive, available. (Kirkus Reviews)
This comprehensive edition of Russia's greatest modern poet, Anna
Akhmatova (1899-1966), includes the complete texts of her major
works Requiem, commemorating all of Stalin's victims, and Poem
Without a Hero. Akhmatova published her first book of poems in
1912, and in the same year founded the Acmeist movement with her
husband, the poet Gumilev. Her intense, highly personal love lyrics
were later attacked as anti-revolutionary, and in 1925 her poetry
was banned. Gumilev was shot in 1921 for alleged involvement in an
anti-Bolshevik plot, and in the years of terror which followed
under Stalin, Akhmatova was persecuted for her work along with
fellow poets Mandelstam, who died in a camp, and Tsvetaeva, who
committed suicide. She was able to publish some work during the
war, but in 1946 she again came under attack, this time from
Zhdanov, who denounced her with Pasternak and others for trying to
'poison the minds' of Soviet youth. These were attacks on her
published work. What she was writing - but could not publish - was
far more dangerous. For she had entered her years of silence. As
she fought for her son's release from prison, she was writing her
greatest poetry: the cycle Requiem, which commemorated all of
Stalin's victims, and Poem without a hero, which she began in 1940
and worked on for over 20 years. All she wrote she committed to
memory. Several trusted friends also memorised her poems, among
them Mandelstam's widow Nadezhda. She wrote nothing down, and so
survived, the people's conscience, the one who kept 'the great
Russian word' alive.
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