The Diaries of Nikolay Punin: 1904-1953

by Nikolaya Punin, Jennifer Greene Krupala (Translator), Sidney Monas (Editor)

Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) was the most articulate Russian/Soviet art critic of the 1920s. He strongly advocated Constructivism, an avant-garde impulse that favored mechanomorphic abstraction and proclaimed a movement to bring art into the center of popular life. In the United States, he is perhaps best remembered for his love affair with Anna Akhmatova, one of the great poets of the twentieth century. This volume presents the first English translation of ten diary notebooks that Punin wrote between 1915 and 1936, as well as selections from his earlier (1904-1910) and later (1941-1946) diaries and some thirty notes and letters relating to his affair with Anna Akhmatova. These materials offer a rare glimpse into the life of art and artists in Russia. They also present vivid scenes from the 1905 Revolution, World War I, the 1917 Revolutions, World War II, and Stalinist oppression through the reflections of a talented man, who, unlike many of his generation, lived to tell the tale.

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tatyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"At night I feel the loneliness most of all and the senselessness of petitions and prayers, and sometimes I cry quietly. I think that each of us quietly cries if only once every twenty-four hours; some at night, like me, others, perhaps, during the day. And there is no salvation." -- diary note of 13 December 1941

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I visited the apartment Punin lived in before he was 'disappeared'. It was in the Sheremetev Palace just off Nevsky Prospect in St Petersburg. His overcoat still hung on the hanger in the ante-room at the top of the stairs, quite a poignant sight. But he interests me because Akhmatova was in love with him for a long time, and shared those rooms at times with both Punin and his wife. These diaries include the most fascinating details of life in Russia mid-20th century as well as insights into Akhmatova herself.

[PEN Center USA · Rating 5 out of 5]

2000 PEN Center USA Award Winner for Translation