My thanks to Pam Mark Hall, Daniil Frolov, Joanne S, and 39 others(?) who read and liked my essay about Anna Akhmatova. I continue working on her life and poetry, and post my 2d part in April.
My latest (sorry) thanks to Konstantin Asimonov, Monday to Friday, Jorgan Lowenfeldt, Olena Green, Ann Hendrix, Ken Cambell, Ken Kovak, Mosby Woods, Josef Stitt, Aleksarii, 8th Gen Texan and B.L., Sodac, Samara, Mandy Morris, MetalMoomin, and Alex Rettie for reading and liking my Russian Poets. It is so inspiring to work for you, my readers!
My thanks to Emika Oka, Jonathan Potter, Cattin-Martel, and 31 others (?) who read and liked my essay on Anna Akhmatova. (I would like to see 31 others among my subscribers!)
Thank you. This is very interesting, as usual with you. I especially enjoyed the anecdote about her father being terribly worried that she would ruin the family name by becoming a poet. Who has heard of her father except through her own renown? It was also interesting to hear Bakhtin’s criticism of her, which is surely flawed but formidable. I recall reading how she lived in a tiny flat with her son for many years and that it was bugged by the Soviet authority. Apparently her son felt that she cared more for her poetry than for him and they would argue sometimes. I did not know about his going to stay with his grand parents but regardless, what can one make of such things? There remains the fact that a million voices cried out through her poetry.
That sounds like a wise take to me. I am looking forward to reading The Dialogic Imagination by Bakhtin, hopefully soon. In the meantime I have read a brilliant little book on Dostoevsky this week and plan to write about it soon.
As I understand this horrible situation with her son, he never forgave her for not caring about him. They had an awful relationship. I will write about it later. About Bakhtin: If he could understand Dostoevsky's novels, and until now he is the best theoretician of literature, you can let him, at least to have his own opinion. Akhmatova had no knowledge of his opinion, anyway.
Thank you for this, Larisa- what a fascinating, compelling essay, and it takes me indeed to my ..not even youth, teen years, as that's when my family got some thin, samizdat-looking book of early Akhmatova's poetry, called "Вечер" ("Evening") I was in love ...for what felt like first time in my life, I think I was 13? needless to add- I knew every poem by heart.
Later, I fell much harder for Tzvetaeva, and she became more "my" poet- but I still have that thin blue book somewhere....
Our teacher of literature told out loud, rather lovingly: "Chennie looks a bit like Akhmatova", but I didn't take it as a compliment then, at all. Now it's funny to remember.
How many things passed, they were bitter, but now they're bittersweet.
I think that they said our school was the school Akhmatova went to, before the revolution, but I forget. Maybe they meant it was on the next street to us. In short, we definitely walked same streets in Kyiv, just in different times.
It is very hard to write when one knows what real poetry means. I'd never venture at all, unless some impossibility to not to wouldn't scratch in me.
Thank you for ...well, this and everything❤️It's sorely needed these days.
If your school was in the building of (before the revolution) Fundukleevskaya Gymnasium, it means you studied in the same school. You had Akhmatova's poetry at the right time. It's lovely if you even looked like her.
Yes, i remember the name but never thought to check the location- yes, they were closeby, but not the same building or street.
I don't think I looked much like her, I think maybe our teacher (who I must say was one the most memoravle teachers I ever had) just had a maybe-moment.
Thank you so much Larisa for this, I found Akhmatova’s poetry during lockdown and was inspired to learn Russian so I could read it in the original ( a work in progress!) . For others like me I highly recommend the bilingual edition The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Judith Hemschemeyer and Roberta Reeder. Judith Hemschemeyer also learnt Russian specifically in order to read and then translate Akhmatova. See https://worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/literary-tributes/pilgrimage-and-passion-project-remembering-judith-hemschemeyer-renee-h-shea
Thank you, Dodo, for your comment. I love hearing about such a personal love for Russian writers and poets. And thank you for the recommendation of Judith Hemschemeyer and Roberta Reeder's translation of Akhmatova. Our main problem with translating into English is that Russian poetry loses all the music of rhythm, rhyme, and inner alliteration completely. There are no good or poor translations. They are all poor, unfortunately. But knowledge of the language helps convey the exact sense of the work.
My russian is bad, but I can enjoy some of her lines, for sure! Recently I was asked to record myself reading her poetry, because apparently I have a good voice for that?
How can we do it practically? Our roundtable is our discussion here. If you have already been asked (by whom?) to read, and you have a good voice for it, voice Ahmatova for us, you can do it in English translation.
Great essay Larisa, many thanks. I'm a big fan of Anna's poetry. A few years ago I made a YouTube video in which I talk about her time in wartime Leningrad and I recite part of a poem she wrote as a reflection of its meaning. Here's a link to the video if you are interested. I start talking about Anna around 9 minutes into it -
I don't know what I did wrong, but my first reply disappeared. I went to YouTube and had the pleasure of seeing and listening to you talking about so different times and authors. I am going to write about strange Akhmatova's opinion when she returned to L-d, about her strange reaction to the city...
Thank you for reading and giving me information about the Trio Meridian, which I knew nothing about. Definitely, I will be listening to their Akmatova songs. Thank you!
Я прослушала Трио "Последний тост" в полном восторге и по памяти сейчас написала Вам этот маленький превосходный стих, а так же, что я напишу о мужчине, кому посвящен этот стих. И когда я стукнула на reply, my comment disappeared. Worse of all, I don't understand, how it happens with me.
Да, конечно, Маня, я занимаюсь сейчас ее жизнью и поэзией, только медленно из-за выбора материала и переводов. Если Вы подпишитесь на мой сабстак,мое эссе придет к вам, как только я его опубликую.
Patric Kinville, thank you for restacking my essay about Akhmatova.
My thanks to Pam Mark Hall, Daniil Frolov, Joanne S, and 39 others(?) who read and liked my essay about Anna Akhmatova. I continue working on her life and poetry, and post my 2d part in April.
My latest (sorry) thanks to Konstantin Asimonov, Monday to Friday, Jorgan Lowenfeldt, Olena Green, Ann Hendrix, Ken Cambell, Ken Kovak, Mosby Woods, Josef Stitt, Aleksarii, 8th Gen Texan and B.L., Sodac, Samara, Mandy Morris, MetalMoomin, and Alex Rettie for reading and liking my Russian Poets. It is so inspiring to work for you, my readers!
My thanks to Emika Oka, Jonathan Potter, Cattin-Martel, and 31 others (?) who read and liked my essay on Anna Akhmatova. (I would like to see 31 others among my subscribers!)
What a wonderful essay!
Thank you, Tomas!
Thank you. This is very interesting, as usual with you. I especially enjoyed the anecdote about her father being terribly worried that she would ruin the family name by becoming a poet. Who has heard of her father except through her own renown? It was also interesting to hear Bakhtin’s criticism of her, which is surely flawed but formidable. I recall reading how she lived in a tiny flat with her son for many years and that it was bugged by the Soviet authority. Apparently her son felt that she cared more for her poetry than for him and they would argue sometimes. I did not know about his going to stay with his grand parents but regardless, what can one make of such things? There remains the fact that a million voices cried out through her poetry.
That sounds like a wise take to me. I am looking forward to reading The Dialogic Imagination by Bakhtin, hopefully soon. In the meantime I have read a brilliant little book on Dostoevsky this week and plan to write about it soon.
Brilliant! Akhmatova is an excellent, admirable poet, but not in everybody’s opinion. That is that.
As I understand this horrible situation with her son, he never forgave her for not caring about him. They had an awful relationship. I will write about it later. About Bakhtin: If he could understand Dostoevsky's novels, and until now he is the best theoretician of literature, you can let him, at least to have his own opinion. Akhmatova had no knowledge of his opinion, anyway.
My thanks to L.E. Mullin, Vera, and 20 others for reading and liking my comment on Bakhtin (and Akhmatova's son)
I have long revered the great Russian novelists but knew nothing of the poetry. Thank you for opening this world to me.
I am very glad, Marian. Russian Poetry is an inspiration.
Thank you for this, Larisa- what a fascinating, compelling essay, and it takes me indeed to my ..not even youth, teen years, as that's when my family got some thin, samizdat-looking book of early Akhmatova's poetry, called "Вечер" ("Evening") I was in love ...for what felt like first time in my life, I think I was 13? needless to add- I knew every poem by heart.
Later, I fell much harder for Tzvetaeva, and she became more "my" poet- but I still have that thin blue book somewhere....
Our teacher of literature told out loud, rather lovingly: "Chennie looks a bit like Akhmatova", but I didn't take it as a compliment then, at all. Now it's funny to remember.
How many things passed, they were bitter, but now they're bittersweet.
I think that they said our school was the school Akhmatova went to, before the revolution, but I forget. Maybe they meant it was on the next street to us. In short, we definitely walked same streets in Kyiv, just in different times.
It is very hard to write when one knows what real poetry means. I'd never venture at all, unless some impossibility to not to wouldn't scratch in me.
Thank you for ...well, this and everything❤️It's sorely needed these days.
If your school was in the building of (before the revolution) Fundukleevskaya Gymnasium, it means you studied in the same school. You had Akhmatova's poetry at the right time. It's lovely if you even looked like her.
Yes, i remember the name but never thought to check the location- yes, they were closeby, but not the same building or street.
I don't think I looked much like her, I think maybe our teacher (who I must say was one the most memoravle teachers I ever had) just had a maybe-moment.
🌹
As always, such an informative essay. Thank you.
My second reply. (Ask Lexi, mb she didn't like my first and ate it?) Thank you for reading.
I will ask her for sure!
Thank you so much Larisa for this, I found Akhmatova’s poetry during lockdown and was inspired to learn Russian so I could read it in the original ( a work in progress!) . For others like me I highly recommend the bilingual edition The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Judith Hemschemeyer and Roberta Reeder. Judith Hemschemeyer also learnt Russian specifically in order to read and then translate Akhmatova. See https://worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/literary-tributes/pilgrimage-and-passion-project-remembering-judith-hemschemeyer-renee-h-shea
Thank you, Dodo, for your comment. I love hearing about such a personal love for Russian writers and poets. And thank you for the recommendation of Judith Hemschemeyer and Roberta Reeder's translation of Akhmatova. Our main problem with translating into English is that Russian poetry loses all the music of rhythm, rhyme, and inner alliteration completely. There are no good or poor translations. They are all poor, unfortunately. But knowledge of the language helps convey the exact sense of the work.
Akhmatova's early poems are charming, but I agree with Bakhtin, Tsvetaeva was a much better, more subtle and interesting, deeper poet.
My russian is bad, but I can enjoy some of her lines, for sure! Recently I was asked to record myself reading her poetry, because apparently I have a good voice for that?
Oh, it's very interesting! How can we hear your reading of Akhmatova?
I would never read in russian in front of you. Lol
Perhaps someday you and your readers should make a roundtable about russian literature and culture. Then people could read!
How can we do it practically? Our roundtable is our discussion here. If you have already been asked (by whom?) to read, and you have a good voice for it, voice Ahmatova for us, you can do it in English translation.
I have no idea. As fas as I know, we can’t send audio messages here. Lol
Great essay Larisa, many thanks. I'm a big fan of Anna's poetry. A few years ago I made a YouTube video in which I talk about her time in wartime Leningrad and I recite part of a poem she wrote as a reflection of its meaning. Here's a link to the video if you are interested. I start talking about Anna around 9 minutes into it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EWq7qdanw4
I don't know what I did wrong, but my first reply disappeared. I went to YouTube and had the pleasure of seeing and listening to you talking about so different times and authors. I am going to write about strange Akhmatova's opinion when she returned to L-d, about her strange reaction to the city...
Thank you for reading and giving me information about the Trio Meridian, which I knew nothing about. Definitely, I will be listening to their Akmatova songs. Thank you!
Я прослушала Трио "Последний тост" в полном восторге и по памяти сейчас написала Вам этот маленький превосходный стих, а так же, что я напишу о мужчине, кому посвящен этот стих. И когда я стукнула на reply, my comment disappeared. Worse of all, I don't understand, how it happens with me.
Да, конечно, Маня, я занимаюсь сейчас ее жизнью и поэзией, только медленно из-за выбора материала и переводов. Если Вы подпишитесь на мой сабстак,мое эссе придет к вам, как только я его опубликую.
Спасибо!