Book Description
Initially published in 1990, when the New York Times Book Review named it one of fourteen "Best Books of the Year," Judith Hemschemeyer's translation of The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova is the definitive edition, and has sold over 13,000 copies, making it one of the most successful poetry titles of recent years.

This reissued and revised printing features a new biographical essay as well as expanded notes to the poems, both by Roberta Reeder, project editor and author of Anna Akhmatova: Poet and Prophet (St. Martin's Press, 1994). Encyclopedic in scope, with more than 800 poems, 100 photographs, a historical chronology, index of first lines, and bibliography. The Complete Poems will be the definitive English language collection of Akhmatova for many years to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

if you want to read Russian poetry
you have to read it in Russian. You CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT, and i repeat, CANNOT (!) read it in translation- its like trading feces for gold. That is literally what it sounds like in comparison to the original. The specificity, brutality, the sumptuous tenderness of the Russian language are all but lost in these translations of one of this century's greatest poets. Although you might enjoy what you are reading, given you do not speak Russian- you honestly cannot even BEGIN to touch the greatness of Akhmatova or any other Russian poet by reading it in translation.

I honestly don't know who came up with the concept of translating poetry- to me its barbaric. A poem is so brief, it is so immediate and so dependent upon every word- no one should ever touch it. If you want it bad enough, learn Russian. And just so you know, reading Russian poetry in its original form is MORE than worth going through the trouble of learning the language. There is nothing in the world like it- nothing. It beats Shakespeare.

Second book critic
This was one of a set of books I gave my daughter so I cannot rate the books so far as contents are concerned. To order it was easy and fast.

Russian Poets of the 1930s
I am studying Russian writers of the 1930s particularly those who fled to Paris after the Bolshevik Revoltion of 1917. Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva were part of the pre-Revolution intelligencia and suffered terribly from the Reds suppression of artistic freedom. The Complete Poems of AA was helpful to me in this study. The photos, the biography and the dating of individual poems aided my work. Since I am not skilled in Russian, I cannot comment on the quality of the translation but the very moving English version of AA's expression iswhat I would hope is even better in her native tongue. There is no doubt that even in translation AA and MT were among the great poets of the 20th Century.

William Farragher

Somehow a survivor
Akhmatova was one of the few unrepentant Acemist poets to survive Russia's Bolshevik revolution and subsequant Stalinist takeover and purges. She was seen by authorities as a dangerous element, related to the pre-revolutionary order. Somehow, even as her fellow poets - including friend Osip Mandlestam and husband Nikolay Gumilov - were executed, exiled, sent to camps, or fled, she managed to survive - outliving Stalin himself. Her poems range from the early tales of love and unrequitation, to the tormented later works such as Requium - a harrowing dedication to the victoms of Stalinism. Her use of words is fantastic - the reader can truly feel her presence. This collection is very comprehensive, and well-translted from the original Russian. Definately worth the $21.

The definitive English edition, but sadly no Russian...
For the totally nonRussian speaking English speaker, this is definitely the definitive Akhmatova (...say that ten times fast...). Not only are all her poems here (over 800), but we get a host of other useful things like introductory essays, an essay by Isaiah Berlin, chronology, notes, and tons of beautiful pictures of the beautiful poet herself.

Akhmatova is one of the premier 20th century poets, and it is a shame that her reputation is still only establishing itself among English speaking countries. This volume should help in that regard. However, it must be strongly emphasized that readers who hear Akhmatova only in English are really missing most of the beauty of her poems. Russian poetry is musically beautiful, and this is NOT carried over into the Enlglish, although it must be granted that Hemschemeyer does make some pretty valiant attempts to do just this.

So the reason for the four stars is that there is no Russian in this edition. Granted, the size of it would hardly permit it. So I would ask that people complement it with an edition of Akhmatova's poems in the original, and either learn cyrillic or get someone who can read them to read them to you! You will hardly recognize them, they are so beautiful. She is a master of alliteration, assonance and rhyme... all of these being so important to her lyricism.

I actually bought this edition, and when I found there was no Russian, I returned it and got Hemschemeyer's "Selected Poems of Anna Akhmatova" instead, which only has 100+ poems but has the Russian on the opposing pages. It was sad to have to do this, but after I sat down and read through some of the poems, I realized I had made the right decision. What I miss most are the pictures... ... Read more

Book Description
In this definitive biography of the legendary Russian poet, Elaine Feinstein draws on a wealth of newly available material–including memoirs, letters, journals, and interviews with surviving friends and family–to produce a revelatory portrait of both the artist and the woman.

Anna Akhmatova rose to fame in the years before World War I, but she would pay a heavy price for the political and personal passions that informed her brilliant poetry. In Anna of All the Russias we see Akhmatova's work banned from 1925 until 1940 and again after World War II. We see her steadfast opposition to Stalin, even while her son was held in the Gulag. We see her abiding loyalty to such friends as Mandelstam, Shostakovich, and Pasternak as they faced Stalinist oppression. And we see how, through everything, Akhmatova continued to write, her poetry giving voice to the Russian people by whom she was, and still is, deeply loved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great poet, fascinating beauty ,heart rending Russian history lesson
What a moving , inspiringbiography this is !

A Must read.

If you are not acquaintedwithAnna Akhmatova

And the astonishingartistic creativity in Russia

that miraculouslyabided

thru unimaginable tumolt and oppression.
This book will do the trick!
Part of this miracle:

how passionate and tender their support towards each other amidst.

What beauty endured.

Amazing, complex and ardent characters in her circledescribed,too.

And they were real.

Perhaps

one accomplshmentof thisbio

is that it leaves one

humbeledyetsumptuouslyentertained in the midst..

My edition , dog eared by now.

What a fascinating woman andtime in Russia.

You will fall in love.

An illuminating and highly readable biography
Elaine Feinstein's engrossing biography of Anna Akhmatova - one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century - makes the woman, her work and her world vividly alive. In chronicling this extraordinarily dramatic life, Feinstein makes use of a broad range of new material, including letters, journals and memoirs, and interviews Akhmatova's surviving friends and relatives.

Feinstein follows Akhmatova from her privileged Russian youth to her free-spirited early adulthood and her first, unhappy marriage to the poet Nikolay Gumilyov. The 1920s were years of starvation in Russia, but for Akhmatova they were also a period of great creativity and many love affairs, some painful, others more fulfilling. In a key encounter, Akhmatova met and fell in love with a married art historian, Vladimir Punin, and lived with him in his apartment, where his unhappy wife and young daughter had to remain.

During this time, Akhmatova's son, Lev, from her first marriage, suddenly re-entered her life. Feinstein gives a heartbreaking account of her relationship with Lev, who was exiled in Siberia for many years. (Despite Akhmatova's many pleas to the Soviet authorities on his behalf, Lev was not rehabilitated until 1956.)

Akhmatova's works were banned in the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1940, but despite ill health and further turmoil, her inner toughness enabled her to continue to write poetry of genius. She remained in Leningrad when the Nazis invaded and then was airlifted out to Tashkent, where she spent the war years.

This immensely readable and profoundly touching study shows how, despite her many hardships, Akhmatova was prepared to give her unstinting support to friends such as Mandelstam, Pasternak and Shostakovich who were victimised by the Stalin regime. And Feinstein sheds invaluable light on the uniqueness of the poems which gave a voice to the people of Russia and which still evoke intense love and admiration for Akhmatova to this day.

Marcus Adams

Slow but enjoyable
I particularly liked Feinstein's biography of Akhmatova, although is a slow read, it introduces the reader to the human Akhmatova, with all her qualities and imperfections. Her generosity as a friend, her passion for poetry, her frail relationship with her son, the failed marriages and dire love affairs, the everyday struggle for existence all of these aspects reflected in her poetry. There are many interesting facts about her life like her meeting with Isaiah Berlin and the emotional and political consequence that followed, her marriage to the eccentric Vladimir Shilejko and her strange relationship with Lydia Chukovskaya all of which give a new and complete portrait of Akhmatova as a poet and a soviet citizen. ... Read more

Book Description

A companion to The Complete Poems, this collection offers in a bilingual format some of the Russian poet's most intense and lyrical moments, while retaining a preface by Roberta Reeder and accompanying notes for Judith Hemschemeyer's translations. "We needn't worry again about how to read Akhmatova in translation."-The Observer (London) "In this restrained and accurate translation ... the sense and message strike with all the weight of the original." -New York Times Book Review

Judith Hemschemeyer began translating Akhmatova in 1976. She is a professor at the University of Central Florida, and has published several books of poetry and translations. Roberta Reeder has taught at Harvard and Yale and is the author of Akhmatova's biography, Anna Akhmatova: Poet & Prophet.

Also available by Anna Akhmatova
The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova
PB $29.00, 0-939010-27-5 CUSA

A companion to The Complete Poems, this collection offers some of the Russian poet's most intense and lyrical moments in bilingual format, while retaining a preface by Roberta Reeder and accompanying notes for Judith Hemschemeyer's translations. "We needn't worry again about how to read Akhmatova in translation." -The Observer (London) "In this restrained and accurate translation ... the sense and message strike with all the weight of the original." -New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing Lyric Poet, admirable translation and selection
Anna Akhmatova not only lived through some of the most exciting, dangerous, and horrific times in Russian and Soviet history, she was also blessed with an incredible lyrical gift in writing poetry. Collected here, in admirable translations and with the original Russian, are over a hundred of her finer (shorter) poems. The passion and intensity of this poet are clearly visible from the start, from her early love poems of "Tskarskoye Selo" to her later, more serious, "Requiem".

Readers who know enough Russian to read the cyrillic text will appreciate Akhmatova's musical lyricism, the alliteration and natural rhymes and cadences she is able to (so easy, seemingly!) create. The English translations naturally do not have this music, despite the very valiant attempts to recreate it by Hemschemeyer. She usually gets the cadence, rhythm and stress pretty well, but... well... it's never the same. However, since the poetry is difficult, those who have some Russian (but not perfect, like myself) will really enjoy having both languages present on opposing pages.

This is a chief complaint I have with the "Complete Poems", by the way, which have 800 poems, a lot of essays and tons of beautiful photographs, but NO RUSSIAN ORIGINALS! Argh. What is that? The translations are much less than half the worth of these poems.

One big complaint with this volume, though, is that it leaves out Akhmatova's major long poem, "Poem without a Hero". It baffles me why it wasn't included in this volume, even though it runs a bit long. They should have added it to the end. The editor's notes that a subsequent volume of "Poem without a Hero" is forthcoming on its own is small consolation...

There are short introductions (abridged from the "Complete Poems" and not terribly interesting), and some notes at the end (somewhat useful).

So, this is a great poet, and this may be one of the better editions for readers. Because of the slight complaints, it only gets four stars, but Akhmatova herself deserves all five! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Poet
I grew up in Russia reading Akhmatova, Esenin and other great poets of the "Silver Period". To this day, Akhmatova is the poet I turn to when nostalgia hits. So when I wanted to introduce Russian poetry to my English-speaking husband, I bought this volume.
I am giving this book only four stars because of the somewhat limited selection of the poems: some of her greatest (and best known in Russia) are missing. Kunitz really shines in being able to relay the mood and (surprisingly) the rythm of Akhmatova, even if the actual translatoin is not quite accurate. Overall, this is a great introduction to the poems of a truly talented poet. However, you will soon find yourself shopping for the complete works.

Simplicity and meaning in poetry
I'm not a great poetry lover, but the simplicity and meaning of her poems is even enough to turn me on to poetry!!!! Her words reach my life experiences and touch my soul.

An outstanding translation of a marvelous poet
This is a marvelous book. It is extremely difficult to accurately capture the flavor of the original writing in translation, but Kunitz has done this and more - the English itself is poetry. The book is dual language, so readers of Russian can read the original next to the English. Both are excellent.

The selection is fairly representative of Akhmatova's life work, with early poems from 1909, through her affair with the poet Blok in the teens, the Terror and War, to her deathbed in 1961.I particularly enjoyed the translation of the epic "Requiem".Without a doubt, this is the best English version I have ever read. My only complaint is its berevity - at 40 poems, it merely whets the readers appetite for more - a pity, given the outstanding nature of both poet and translator.

For those who are not familiar with Anna Akhmatova, this is a gem. If you have read some of her work, this is a must-have volume.Enjoy!

The perfect introductory volume.........
This is the volume that introduced me to the works of Anna Akhmatova.After having read this in one evening, I could not sleep - I was so moved by her poetry. The translation must have captured her heart and soulbecause it certainly captured mine - it inspired me to get up in the middleof the night and draw pictures to go with what I had read.I understood atonce the love the Russian people have for her.Since then, I have gobbledup everything translated into English that I can find, but I still thinkthis little volume is the best of all and return to it again and again. Enjoy...... ... Read more

Book Description
all the major prose works ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Chock full bioof a fascinating muse, great poet
First of all,

I've read this bio

Twice thru

and still,not enough!

Akhmatovahad a fascinating beauty. Painted and photographed by many.

She was a great poetwho evolvedduring

Un imaginable tumolt .She witnessed this& uncannily endured.

But what an undivided love and loyalty

left over riding

for this place called Russia.

What a strange continentthis must be..



What a place of paradoxs,Russia must be.

This rich bio lends all of that.

One of my FAVORITE biographies,ever!





i

An interesting character in interesting times
Beautifully written bringing to life the real Anna set in the real history of that period in Russia.Both a history lesson and a poetry lesson. ... Read more

Book Description
Anna Akhmatova is not only Russia’s finest woman poet but perhaps the greatest in the history of Western culture. This volume brings together all of D. M. Thomas’s acclaimed translations of Akhmatova’s poems, including “Poem Without a Hero” and “Requiem,” her poem of the Stalinist Terror. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

My favorite translations of Akhmatova.
This is the best translation of Akhmatova --clear taut and beautiful ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Fear and the Muse
In 1946 the Russian born British philosoper Isaiah Berlin, then a diplomatat the British Embassy in Moscow, learned that Anna Akhmatova, one of thegreat poets of the 20th century, was still alive and living in Leningrad. He went to see her, spending a night talking about art, poetry, philosophy,and history.The night ended when the newspaper correspondent (andWinston's son) Randolph Churchill came to Akhmatova's house and, notknowing where to find Berlin, began bellowing Berlin's name at the top ofhis lungs in the building's courtyard.This may not seem like aterribly important incident; in the course of a normal life such days areusually forgotten within a few weeks of their happening...but in Stalin'sSoviet Union there were no normal lives. The consequences of that night arethe subject of this book, a harsh unblinking look into the workings of aparanoid society and one artist's reaction to it. For Akhmatova that nightwas one of the greatest of her life; unlike many other pre-Revolutionwriters and artists she refused to leave Russia. For her contact withsomeone from outside the four prison walls of Soviet society was likeoxygen to someone suffocating; Berlin became "the guest from thefuture," the unnamed character in her great work 'Poem without ahero,' the reader she would have had if she lived in a normal society. Butshe did not. Dalos shows how all the forces of Stalinist repression swunginto action against her; how she was publicly humiliated by the CentralCommittee, how her son was arrested and sent to the gulag, how MikhailZoshchenko, the satirist and popular writer who was condemned with her, wasslowly driven mad by the government's denunciation of him and his work. Ifanyone is interested on the effect of totalitarianism on the lives ofpeople this is the book to read. A great tribute to a great poet. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

A legend in her own time both for her brilliant poetry and for her resistance to oppression, Anna Akhmatova—denounced by the Soviet regime for her “eroticism, mysticism, and political indifference”—is one of the greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century.

Before the revolution, Akhmatova was a wildly popular young poet who lived a bohemian life. She was one of the leaders of a movement of poets whose ideal was “beautiful clarity”—in her deeply personal work, themes of love and mourning are conveyed with passionate intensity and economy, her voice by turns tender and fierce. A vocal critic of Stalinism, she saw her work banned for many years and was expelled from the Writers’ Union—condemned as “half nun, half harlot.” Despite this censorship, her reputation continued to flourish underground, and she is still among Russia’s most beloved poets.

Here are poems from all her major works—including the magnificent “Requiem” commemorating the victims of Stalin’s terror—and some that have been newly translated for this edition.

Book Description
A unique and radical review of Russia’s two greatest 20th century poets, Anna Akmatova and Osip Mandelstam, which also provides memorable glimpses of numerous other literary figures from the Soviet 1930s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Enlightening reading experience!
This is a revealing book; most books about Akhmatova, Mandelstam and Nadezhda Mandelstam, concentrate on the intellectual aspects of their work, as well as their creative process.What makes this book different is that it gets into their daily lives and personalities and surrounds that with the politics (artistic as well as governmental) of the time in which they lived. Gerstein's depictions are graphically detailedand get into the nugget of each personality.These are real, living, breathing human beings.I highly recommend it.

very disappointing
This is a very weak book when compared to Nadezhda Mandelstam's memoirs of the same period and personalities. Gerstein is not a gifted writer, so one must wade through a great deal of boring material to find something of interest. ... Read more

Product Description
Content1. No ja preduprezhdaju vas2. «Chitaja Gamleta», tsikl stikhotvorenij 3. Rybak4. Smuglyj otrok brodil po allejam5. Szhala ruki pod temnoj vualju6. Slab golos moj, no volja ne slabeet7. Ved gde-to est prostaja zhizn i svet8. Mne golos byl, on zval uteshno9. Nebyvalaja osen postroila kupol vysokij10. Muza11. «Razryv», tsikl stikhotvorenij12. Privolem pakhnet dikij med13. Kleopatra14. Stikhi iz tragedii «Prolog, ili son vo sne» 15. Iz tsikla «Veter vojny» 16. Rodnaja zemlja17. Vot ona, plodonosnaja osen18. «Polnochnye stikhi», tsikl stikhotvorenij19. Letnij sad20. Primorskij sonet21. Ob Aleksandre Bloke22. Iz ocherka «Amadeo Modiljani» 23. «Rekviem», tsikl stikhotvorenij ... Read more

Book Description