Brodsky I.A. (1940-1996), poet

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BRODSKY Iosif Alexanderovich (1940, Leningrad - 1996), poet. He failed to finish school and went to work in a plant, then changed a number of professions. He attended lectures at the Philological Faculty of Leningrad State University. Started writing in 1957. He was associated with a circle of young poets close to A.A. Akhmatova. In 1964 he was condemned for parasitism and expelled to Arkhangelsky Region for five years. Under constraint of world public and Russian cultural figures (appeals of Akhmatova, K.I. Chukovsky, K.G. Paustovsky, S.Y. Marshak) he was released after a year and a half and returned to Leningrad in 1966. From 1972, when Soviet Government forced Brodsky to leave the country, he lived in the USA (the USA citizen from 1980). In his poetry Brodsky continued and developed traditions of Petersburg post-symbolism, and reflected the traditions of Baroque poetry in an original way, creating metaphoric comparisons, going through all his creativity. The theme of St. Petersburg and its environs repeatedly emerged in Brodsky's verses (The Strelna Threnode, Petersburg Novel, Stanzas, etc.). He asserted himself that St. Petersburg architecture had a great influence on his poetry. After departure Brodsky never mentioned name pf Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in his works, substituting periphrastic denotations, although the city continues to appear in his verses (The Fifth Anniversary, On Developing Plato, etc.). The city name appeared only in an English essays of Brodsky: Less Than One (1976, translated into Russian by V. Golyshev: Menshe edinitsy), A Guide to a Renamed City (1979, original name Leningrad: City of Mystery, authorised translation into Russian by L.Losev: Putevoditel po pereimenovannomu gorodu), In A Room and the Half (1985, translated into Russian by D. Chekalov: Poltory komnaty). He was awarded the Nobel Prize (1987). In Leningrad Brodsky lived in Muruzi House at 24 Liteiny Avenue with his parents (1949-72; memorial plaque with a wrong date - 1955 instead of 1949 - was installed in 1995).

References: Волков С. М. Диалоги с Иосифом Бродским: Лит. биография. М., 1998; Гордин Я. А. Перекличка во мраке: И. Бродский и его собеседники. СПб., 2000; Ахапкин Д. Н. Вон они, те леса, где полно черники...: (Взгляд извне в произведениях И. Бродского) // Образы России в научных, художественных и политических дискурсах. Петрозаводск, 2001. С. 286-293; Kцnцnen M. Four ways of writing the city: St. Petersburg - Leningrad as a metaphor in the poetry of Joseph Brodsky. Helsinki, 2003.

D. N. Akhapkin. Brodsky Iosif Alexandrovich
Liteiny Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 24
Волков С. М. Диалоги с Иосифом Бродским: Лит. биогр. М., 1998
Ахапкин Д. Н. "Вон они, те леса, где полно черники...": ("Взгляд извне" в произведениях И. Бродского) // Образы России в научных, художественных и политических дискурсах. Петрозаводск, 2001
Гордин Я. А. Перекличка во мраке: И. Бродский и его собеседники. СПб., 2000 1964
1972