The Akhmatova Journals: 1938-41

From Publishers Weekly
Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), described by Chukovskaya as "famous and neglected, strong and helpless . . . a statue of grief, loneliness, pride, courage," springs vividly to life in this fragmentary diary. Chukovskaya, a fellow Russian writer who revered and befriended Akhmatova, recorded from memory their almost daily conversations in Leningrad. Along with animated discussions of Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Aleksandr Blok, Freud, Joyce and many contemporaneous Russian writers, their talks contain veiled intimations of Akhmatova's fear and loathing of Stalin's terrorist police state. This installment of the diary concludes with the two friends evacuating besieged, war-torn Leningrad by train to Tashkent. Norman's stunning translations of 54 of Akhmatova's poems, while faithful to their traditional diction, simultaneously convey their emotional fireworks and modernist sensibility. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The daughter of beloved children's author Kornei Chukovsky and a novelist, scholar, and humans rights activist in her own right, Chukovskaya (To the Memory of Childhood, LJ 7/88) was also a good friend of Anna Akhmatova, one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century. Chukovskaya kept detailed accounts of her conversations with Akhmatova, presented here in the first of several projected volumes. This volume covers a critical time in the life of Akhmatova and of the Soviet Union: the terror was in full sway, war was in the offing, and Akhmatova's writing was deepening even as she tracked the fate of her imprisoned son. These terrible events come through, but they tend to get a bit swamped by the everyday details. The average reader would have preferred Chukovskaya to use these diary entries as the basis for a completely reworked memoir. Scholars, however, will rejoice in the authentic detail and the copious footnotes and endnotes, which provide enough background to enlighten even the most ignorant reader. Recommended primarily for academic collections.Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) is one of the twentieth century's greatest poets. She survived great personal turmoil and official persecution to become a living symbol of Russia's poetic heritage. Even in translation, her short lyrics show unique strength; her sequences encompassing the bitter sweep of Russia's history from the revolution through the purges and World War II, Requiem and Poem without a Hero, rank among the most accomplished long poetic works of their time--with, for instance, Eliot's Waste Land. For artists of such stature, primary source material is always of interest. The first volume of Chukovskaya's Akhmatova Journals provides, through detailed transcriptions of frequent conversations with the poet, fascinating glimpses of Akhmatova's daily life between 1938 and 1941--a time of great stress and creative output. Akhmatova emerges as a theatrical personality of great intelligence and integrity who depended on Chukovskaya for practical daily assistance and as an intelligent interlocutor. Although full appreciation of them demands a deeper knowledge of Russian history, literature, social conditions, and name conventions than many Americans possess, the journals are an important literary document, here made more valuable to English-readers with no Russian by Peter Norman's splendid new translations of the poems discussed in them. John Shreffler

From Kirkus Reviews
Equal certainly to Eckermann's table talk with Goethe and Boswell's journals about Dr. Johnson, Chukovskaya's indispensable log of her friendship with the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova-- an act of literary and personal fidelity accomplished under the most insanely difficult circumstances--is finally available here in translation, and few books are quite as illuminating both of horror and genius. Akhmatova and her friend had relatives (her first and second husbands, as well as a son in A.'s case; a husband in Chukovskaya's) lost and gone forever into the gulag at this time; however, by force of the poet's almost eerie regalness, the state literary culture was busily publishing her selected poetry. The surreal dissonance forms the fabric of Akhmatova's days. And while Chukovskaya's journals could only hint at--and never name outright- -the reason for both women's suffering, still, like a ghost, it plays behind every word. It underlies Akhmatova's agoraphobia and heart troubles, her personal disorderliness and neediness--as well as the indelible nature of the poetry. (The poems selected as illustration here may be the best English versions we have of this great poetry period; an extra boon.) But finally Akhmatova's brilliant and succinct words and talk are (as are all great poets') beside circumstance. ``Poverty has never hampered anybody. Neither has grief. Rembrandt painted all his best works in the last two years of his life, after having lost everybody around him: his wife, son, mother....No, grief doesn't interfere with work.'' Chukovskaya, as Akhmatova's copiest, even records when punctuation was changed in the great poems--and to read over her shoulder, as it were, about the poet's reactions is to take a short course in Russian verse history as well. Ultimately these journals cohere as great works of portraiture: a picture of one of the century's most toweringly moral artists, suffering at full tide, without a jot of self-pity. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Book News, Inc.
A revised and extended translation from the Russian edition of 1989. Chukovskaya, Anna Akhmatova's (1889-1966) friend, kept intimate diaries of her conversations with the great Russian poet. The journals offer a look into the day-to-day life of Akhmatova--her fortunes and sorrows, the evolution of her writing, her inspiration and imagination. A great book made even greater by the 54 poems (keyed to specific journal entries) newly translated into English by Peter Norman. Includes eight pages of b&w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian


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I was overwhelmed by Lydia Chukovskaya's sustained conversation with her friend.


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