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Brodsky: A Personal Memoir
Brodsky was a friend of the author's family and confided his thoughts and feelings to her, as well as poetry in progress, over more than thirty years both before and after their emigration. Includes never before published poems and numerous photographs.
386 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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February 4, 2023
Russian society is unlike the West in that poetry tradition played a very important role, rather like prophets. (p. 3). Perhaps (Brodsky used that word quite a bit) that's one reason why Brodsky has had many books written about him. More likely because he was a great poet and essayist (I prefer the latter w/the exception of a few poems, like "The Residence" and "May 24, 1980" - a poem written on his 40th birthday).
Other reasons include his famed refusal to bend to Soviet restrictions on the arts and his nearly 2 year banishment to a remote labor camp. Add to that the Nobel and the fact that he was the first non-native born American to become the poet laureate of the U.S.
Other biographies of Brodsky do much more to tease out his poetics. Since Shtern knew Brodsky as a student, then as an expat, her memoir (which is not just about Brodsky, but also the circles he traveled in) provides insights into the relationships and character of the Nobelist "monstre sacre" and "social parasite" (as he was officially deemed to be by the state).
Although Shtern doesn't strongly convey the depth of his mind compared to other bios, his own essays and interviews, she does show how little Brodsky cared for much besides poetry and language. But not in ways that were disinterested in the travails of his fellow expats (we learn that he was very generous with time, gifts, endorsements and other favors, perhaps because he had received the same generous support immediately when arriving in Italy from Russia - from Auden and others).
But poetry was the purpose and the passion.
On page 68 she quotes Brodsky saying what he said repeatedly, including once in a class I took with him back in 1982: "Poetry happens to be the highest form of the existence of language. Ideally, poetry is the negation of mass and the laws of gravity by language."
I didn't know Brodsky enough to write an essay about him, but I can attest from experience that he was a good teacher, different from others. For one, for homework he had us memorize one poem for each class, along with 30 or so pages of reading. That was a nice break from the hundreds of pages per class that were routine fare from nearly every other humanities course I took in college. And a very useful skill too - when you have to memorize a good poem you usually get a better sense of precision and rhythm. It's like translating. Although I'm sure the tradition comes more from the celebration of poetic performance that predates the repressive Soviet era, it doesn't hurt that when you memorize a poem you can take it with you to prison, and it has a chance of surviving if all the printed copies are burned.
Brodsky taught just one or two poems per class. And yet we would learn more about a poet that way than from reading a half dozen and lecturing us on the poet's style, intellectual development or life. He would stop and labor over some words as if we were writing them together, line by line. Why did he pick this word rather than another? Is it more apt? His favorite 20th Century poets were Hardy (who was a poet first, then a novelist, and went back to poetry after becoming financially comfortable enough to stop publishing fiction), Auden (his mentor, of a sort), and Frost. A poem or two from a few others. Gems of insight were entrusted to us like unfinished draft translations. He was truly one of my favorite teachers, which is why I enjoyed learning more about his life from a close friend.
Other reasons include his famed refusal to bend to Soviet restrictions on the arts and his nearly 2 year banishment to a remote labor camp. Add to that the Nobel and the fact that he was the first non-native born American to become the poet laureate of the U.S.
Other biographies of Brodsky do much more to tease out his poetics. Since Shtern knew Brodsky as a student, then as an expat, her memoir (which is not just about Brodsky, but also the circles he traveled in) provides insights into the relationships and character of the Nobelist "monstre sacre" and "social parasite" (as he was officially deemed to be by the state).
Although Shtern doesn't strongly convey the depth of his mind compared to other bios, his own essays and interviews, she does show how little Brodsky cared for much besides poetry and language. But not in ways that were disinterested in the travails of his fellow expats (we learn that he was very generous with time, gifts, endorsements and other favors, perhaps because he had received the same generous support immediately when arriving in Italy from Russia - from Auden and others).
But poetry was the purpose and the passion.
On page 68 she quotes Brodsky saying what he said repeatedly, including once in a class I took with him back in 1982: "Poetry happens to be the highest form of the existence of language. Ideally, poetry is the negation of mass and the laws of gravity by language."
I didn't know Brodsky enough to write an essay about him, but I can attest from experience that he was a good teacher, different from others. For one, for homework he had us memorize one poem for each class, along with 30 or so pages of reading. That was a nice break from the hundreds of pages per class that were routine fare from nearly every other humanities course I took in college. And a very useful skill too - when you have to memorize a good poem you usually get a better sense of precision and rhythm. It's like translating. Although I'm sure the tradition comes more from the celebration of poetic performance that predates the repressive Soviet era, it doesn't hurt that when you memorize a poem you can take it with you to prison, and it has a chance of surviving if all the printed copies are burned.
Brodsky taught just one or two poems per class. And yet we would learn more about a poet that way than from reading a half dozen and lecturing us on the poet's style, intellectual development or life. He would stop and labor over some words as if we were writing them together, line by line. Why did he pick this word rather than another? Is it more apt? His favorite 20th Century poets were Hardy (who was a poet first, then a novelist, and went back to poetry after becoming financially comfortable enough to stop publishing fiction), Auden (his mentor, of a sort), and Frost. A poem or two from a few others. Gems of insight were entrusted to us like unfinished draft translations. He was truly one of my favorite teachers, which is why I enjoyed learning more about his life from a close friend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review