Sophia Parnok: The Life and Work of Russia's Sappho (The Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature Series)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.76 (507 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0814712215 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 382 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-12-30 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Part of a series titled The Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature, Burgin's study of ``the only openly lesbian voice in Russian poetry'' is no exception. About the poet's appearance there is equally little, and of her actions in pre-Revolutionary and Stalinist Russia, there are too many phrases like ``something apparently did come up.'' Parnok comes across as a melodramatic, needy person whose tormented yearnings and unconventional sexuality produced a provocative if insubstantial body of work. From Publishers Weekly Critical biographies run the risk of advancing more criticism than biography, of illuminating an author's work while shedding only shadows on her daily experience. Still, her efforts to meld the poet's works and passions will awaken sympathy for this neglected lesbian artist while never quite justifying the series editor's claim that Parnok was ``brilliant.'' Copyrig
Hidden Name Revealed Her name was forgotten for several decades. During the Soviet era it was unthinkable to mention the name of that close friend of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, their poetic rival and lover. There is special tenderness and a trait of decadent fragility in her verses, as well as in her life. I liked the way Diana tells us about Parnok - one see guess that she had the same feeling and substantially the same life experience.
Dedicated to her last lover, Parnok refers to this cycle as a seven-star of verses, after the seven stars that make up the constellation. Parnok's approach to her sexuality was equally forthright. The weather in Moscow is good, there's no cholera, there's also no lesbian loveBrrr! Remembering those persons of whom you write me makes me nauseous as if I'd eaten a rotten sardine. This lends Burgin's work a particular poetic resonance, owing to its structural affinity with one of Parnok's last and greatest poetic achievements, the cycle of love lyrics Ursa Major. The book is divided into seven chapters, which reflect seven natural divisions in Parnok's life. Author of five volumes of poetry, and lover of Marina Tsvetaeva, Sophia Parnok was the only openly lesbian voice in Russian poetry during the Silver Age of Russian letters. Burgin's work is essential reading for students of Russian literature, lesbian history and women's studies.. Accepting lesbianism as her natural disposition, Parnok acknowledged her relationships with women, both sexual and non-sexual, to be the centre of her creative existence.Diana Burgin's extensively researched life of Parnok is deliberately woven around the poet's own account, visible in her writings. Parnok's poems, translated here for the first time in English, added to a wealth