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Osip Mandelstam:A Biography
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The personal and political life of the iconic Russian poet Osip Mandelstam is graphically portrayed in this lavishly illustrated book
This is the first full-scale biography of Osip Mandelstam to combine an analysis of his poetry with a description of his personal life, from his beginnings as a young intellectual in pre-revolutionary Russia to his final fate as a victim of Stalinism.
The myth has grown up that Mandelstam was a gloomy, miserable figure; Dutli deconstructs this, stressing Mandelstam's enjoyment of life. There are several underlying themes here. One is Mandelstam's Jewish background in pre-1914 Russia, which he rejected as a young man, but reaffirmed in later life. Another is the inescapable impact of Russia's political and social transformation.
His evolution as a poet naturally occupies a large place in the biography, which quotes many of his most famous poems, including his devastating anti-Stalin epigram. He produced wonderful poetry before the October Revolution, but did not reach his full poetic stature until the 1930s when in exile in Voronezh. He was never an official Soviet poet, and it was only thanks to the intervention of Bukharin that he was brought back from utter impoverishment.
The biography gives full weight to his emotional life, beginning with his friendship with two other Russian poets, Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova, followed by love and marriage to Nadezhda Khazina.
"One of the century's greatest lyric poets." - Elaine Feinstein, Sunday Times
"Mandelstam's poems are both bold and delicate. His imagery can seem both profoundly startling yet entirely natural". - Robert Chandler
"Mandelstam was a tragic figure. Even while in exile in Voronej, he wrote works of untold beauty and power. And he had no poetic forerunners. In all of world poetry, I know of no other such case. We know the sources of Pushkin and Blok, but who will tell us from where that new, divine harmony, Mandelstam's poetry, came from?" - Anna Akhmatova
"Russia's greatest poet in the twentieth century." - Joseph Brodsky
Reviews
A timely reminder of both the long history of repression in Russia and the powerful role that literature can play. Dutli's rounded portrait of a Russian poet unafraid to speak truth to power brings to life the man and his time.
Likely to become the standard reference work for the English reader ... enlightening
Deftly examines [Mandelstam's] literary legacy and explains why, in the opinion of the Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, [he] can be considered the greatest Russian poet of the 20th century
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[Dutli's] understanding of his subject is profound and his assessments informed ... his sympathetic grasp of Mandlestam's artistic genius should yet be enough to encourage readers to explore some of the greatest poetry of the 20th century.
, Jewish Chronicle -
Compelling ... [Dutli] provides a vibrant, deeply informed guide to the life, the writing and the tumultuous age that shaped them.
, Times Literary Supplement -
The author, Ralph Dutli, approaches the poet unobtrusively and sensitively. He deconstructs the myths that have surrounded him, such as the notion that he was a restless ascetic who never put down any roots or settled anywhere. It was sheer necessity that forced him to move from place to place. Dutli brings out the sensual and witty side of Mandelstam, who was full of the joys of life.
, Die Tageszeitung -
This biography crowns Dutli’s work as editor of the poet’s oeuvre. Thanks to Ralph Dutli, the German public now have the best conceivable access to Mandelstam’s work. Dutli hasn’t just told the story of Mandelstam’s life; he has included in an appendix a range of comments by other poets, the most remarkable of them being that by Pasolini.
, Süddeutsche Zeitung -
This is a biography written with insight and precision, which can be recommended unreservedly. The aim of the book is to explain how Mandelstam managed to retain his enjoyment of life and clarity of vision despite all his suffering. This is a successful biography written with empathy, sobriety and a wealth of information.
, Frankfurter Rundschau -
A model biography by Dutli, who is better qualified than anyone else to do this, because he has a precise knowledge of every facet of the poet’s life and work. He corrects the picture presented by Celan, whose translations overemphasised the tragic, elegiac aspect of Mandelstam’s poetry.
, Neue Zürcher Zeitung -
The details of the road that led to Mandelstam’s death have never been presented to the German public so precisely and with so much tact, as here. Dutli’s language is muscular, warm and colourful.
, Die Zeit -
Dutli is able to illuminate the interaction between the poet’s life and his work in a masterly fashion, without reducing his poems to a mere reflection of aspects of his biography.
, Deutschlandfunk -
[T]wenty years after Dutli’s biography appeared in German, Osip Mandelstam is suddenly our primary narrative on Mandelstam and his work.
, On the Seawall -
The biography is a workmanlike introduction, valuable because it brings a measured understanding to Osip Mandelstam’s life and poetry as well as to the horrific decades he lived through.
, The Arts Fuse -
Dutli delivers a penetrating biography of the Russian-Jewish poet Osip Mandelstam
Publishers Weekly