Review by Booklist Review
One of Russia's greatest poets, Akhmatova (1889-1966) was born as the curtain fell on Imperial Russia and lived to endure and write about the deprivations and horrors of the Soviet regime. A profoundly private person, Akhmatova is not an easy subject for a in-depth psychological portrait, but Reeder has done well with the material at hand, illuminating both Akhmatova and her world. Akhmatova's childhood was not a happy one, but she felt a distinct sense of destiny about her future, a prescience she possessed throughout her difficult life. Her first book of poems, Evening, was published in 1912 and Akhmatova, slender and regal, was soon at the very center of St. Petersburg's literary circle. An admirer of Pushkin, Akhmatova created emotional resonance with simple words linked in unexpected combinations. She also managed to fill her poems with the sort of dynamic psychology found in the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Deeply patriotic, Akhmatova refused to leave her poor crushed country even after she was no longer allowed to publish, and her son was imprisoned and tortured. A woman of courage and immense spiritual strength, Akhmatova lived a life of calm dignity and integrity under a reign of terror, all the while writing poetry radiant with beauty, sorrow, and forgiveness. ~--Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this monumental biography of one of Russia's-and the 20th century's-greatest poets, Reeder, editor of the poet's complete works, deftly combines incisive literary analysis with a complex portrait of Akhmatova (1889-1966) and her turbulent times. Initially influenced by the Symbolists and Imagists, the poet became more oracular, moving from the ``chamber intimacy'' of her earlier work to poetry that increasingly addressed the oppressiveness of the Russian people: ``I-am your voice,'' one poem proclaims. So fervently did Akhmatova embrace this role that Stalin's regime suppressed her poetry for 20 years. Drawing upon interviews with the poet's friends and colleagues, some interviewed for the first time for publication, Reeder humanizes a woman lionized by the Russian people. Oppressed by governmental scrutiny, she was sometimes afraid to commit poetry to paper, relying instead on her memory and on those of her friends. Her romantic entanglements with Modigliani and Pasternak (whose persistent advances she rebuffed), as well as a sense of self-mockery about her exalted status, give further depth to Reeder's absorbing study. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
"The chamber intimacy of Akhmatova... what meaning [does it] have for our harsh, iron age?" asked the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in the early days of the revolution. That intimacy has in fact proved remarkably enduring, but for decades Akhmatova faced censure, deprivation, and the imprisonment and death of loved ones before her genius-recognized in the early 1900s-was again acknowledged by the regime. Reeder, editor of The Complete Works of Anna Akhamatova (LJ 4/1/90), does not emulate her subject's spare, lucid verse, offering instead a richly detailed, exhaustively-indeed, exhaustingly-researched work. She brings in other writers with whom Akhmatova was linked, analyzing and quoting from their works as well as Akhmatova's, and while the result is a nice overview of the era, the poet does get lost in the process. Reeder seems to have hunted down every last reminiscence, however peripheral, and some filtering might have resulted in a stronger portrait. Still, this major study of a major poet usefully assembles a breadth of material. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/94.]-Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
By meticulously tracing renowned Russian poet Akhmatova's tortuous life, this extraordinarily detailed biography builds up a panoramic view of Soviet cultural history. Reeder (Russian Literature and Culture/Univ. of Marburg, Germany) edited the acclaimed bilingual edition of Akhmatova's collected poetry published by Zephyr Press in 1990. Here she offers a historical chronicle rather than a psychological analysis of Akhmatova (18891966) or a reinterpretation of her poetry. Glossing over the poet's childhood, Reeder plunges into a lively account of avant-garde St. Petersburg in the decadent years preceding the Russian Revolution; Akhmatova, departing from the reigning symbolist aesthetic, pioneered the modernist style of ``Acmeism,'' which stressed everyday language and experience. After the revolution, Akhmatova, often poverty-stricken and at odds with the emerging regime, kept a low profile. Symbols and allegories--more often than not prophetic, Reeder contends--would reemerge in Akhmatova's work as she struggled to express her alienation from Soviet rule and at the same time keep her citizenship and her life- -a task at which most of her fellow writers were less successful than she. Reeder depicts a long series of state crimes, from the murders of Akhmatova's first husband, Nikolay Gumilyov, and her close friend Osip Mandelstam to the hounding of Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky, even after the supposed ``thaw'' of the Khrushchev years. Reeder interprets Akhmatova's poems and those of her contemporaries almost exclusively in light of political and literary history, and the parade of crises and geniuses that she presents becomes so dense at times that it obscures the depth of the verses that she liberally quotes--and by extension of the poets themselves. But this very density is what will make Reeder's biography not only the starting point for all future engagements with Akhmatova's life and work but more generally a key source for scholars exploring the thorny entanglement of politics and art in 20th- century Russia. (32 pages of photos, not seen)
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Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
