Joseph Brodsky

, Saint Petersburg, where its Brodsky memorial plaque is visible in the middle of the ground floor of the brown building Brodsky was born into a Russian Jewish family in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). A descendant of a prominent and ancient rabbinic family, Schorr (Shor) his direct male-line ancestor was Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor. His father, Aleksandr Brodsky, was a professional photographer in the Soviet Navy, and his mother, Maria Volpert Brodskaya, a professional interpreter whose work often helped to support the family. They lived in communal apartments, in poverty, marginalized by their Jewish status. In early childhood, Brodsky survived the Siege of Leningrad where he and his parents nearly died of starvation; one aunt did die of hunger. As a young student, Brodsky was "an unruly child" known for his misbehavior during classes. At fifteen, Brodsky left school and tried to enter the School of Submariners without success. He went on to work as a milling machine operator. Later, having decided to become a physician, he worked at the morgue at the Kresty Prison, cutting and sewing bodies. He subsequently held a variety of jobs in hospitals, in a ship's boiler room, and on geological expeditions. At the same time, Brodsky engaged in a program of self-education. He learned Polish so he could translate the works of Polish poets such as Czesław Miłosz, and English so that he could translate John Donne. On the way, he acquired a deep interest in classical philosophy, religion, mythology, and English and American poetry. ==Career and family==

Early career In 1955, Brodsky began writing his own poetry and producing literary translations. He circulated them in secret, and some were published by the underground journal, Sintaksis (Syntax, ). His writings were apolitical. by the Soviet authorities in a trial in 1964, finding that his series of odd jobs and role as a poet were not a sufficient contribution to society. They called him "a pseudo-poet in velveteen trousers" who failed to fulfill his "constitutional duty to work honestly for the good of the motherland". For his "parasitism" Brodsky was sentenced to five years hard labor and served 18 months on a farm in the village of Norenskaya, in the Arkhangelsk region, 350 miles from Leningrad. He rented his own small cottage, and although it was without plumbing or central heating, having one's own, private space was taken to be a great luxury at the time. Brodsky's sentence was commuted in 1965 after protests by prominent Soviet and foreign cultural figures, including Evgeny Evtushenko, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Jean-Paul Sartre as well as Akhmatova. Brodsky became a cause célèbre in the West also, when a secret transcription of trial minutes was smuggled out of the country, making him a symbol of artistic resistance in a totalitarian society, much like his mentor, Akhmatova. His son, Andrei, was born on 8 October 1967, and Basmanova broke off the relationship. Andrei was registered under Basmanova's surname because Brodsky did not want his son to suffer from the political attacks that he endured. Marina Basmanova was threatened by the Soviet authorities, which prevented her from marrying Brodsky or joining him when he was exiled from the country. After the birth of their son, Brodsky continued to dedicate love poetry to Basmanova. In Austria, he met Carl Ray Proffer and Auden, who facilitated Brodsky's transit to the United States and proved influential to Brodsky's career. Proffer, of the University of Michigan and one of the co-founders of Ardis Publishers, became Brodsky's Russian publisher from this point on. Recalling his landing in Vienna, Brodsky commented: Although the poet was invited back after the fall of the Soviet Union, Brodsky never returned to his country. United States After a short stay in Vienna, Brodsky settled in Ann Arbor, with the help of poets Auden and Proffer, and became poet-in-residence at the University of Michigan for a year. Brodsky went on to become a visiting professor at Queens College (1973–74), Smith College, Columbia University, and Cambridge University, later returning to the University of Michigan (1974–80). He was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Literature and Five College Professor of Literature at Mount Holyoke College, brought there by poet and historian Peter Viereck. In 1978, Brodsky was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Yale University, and on 23 May 1979, he was inducted as a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He moved to New York's Greenwich Village in 1980 and in 1981 received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius" award. He was also a recipient of The International Center in New York Award of Excellence. In 1986, his collection of essays, Less Than One, won the National Book Critics Award for Criticism and he was given an honorary doctorate of literature from Oxford University. In an interview he was asked: "You are an American citizen who is receiving the Prize for Russian-language poetry. Who are you, an American or a Russian?" "I'm Jewish; a Russian poet, an English essayist – and, of course, an American citizen", he responded. The academy stated that they had awarded the prize for his "all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity". It also called his writing "rich and intensely vital", characterized by "great breadth in time and space". It was "a big step for me, a small step for mankind", he joked. Brodsky died of a heart attack aged 55, at his apartment in Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, on 28 January 1996. He had open-heart surgery in 1979 and later two bypass operations, remaining in frail health following that time. He was buried in a non-Catholic section of the San Michele cemetery in Venice, Italy, also the resting place of Ezra Pound and Igor Stravinsky. In 1997, a plaque was placed on his former house in St. Petersburg, with his portrait in relief and the words "In this house from 1940 to 1972 lived the great Russian poet, Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky". Brodsky's close friend, the Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, memorialized him in his collection The Prodigal, in 2004. ==Work==

Brodsky is perhaps most known for his poetry collections, A Part of Speech (1977) and To Urania (1988), and the essay collection, Less Than One (1986), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Other notable works include the play, Marbles (1989), and Watermark (1992), a prose meditation on Venice. The Estate of Joseph Brodsky was subsequently prosecuting some websites publishing the poem, demanding its removal. ==Awards and honors==

• 1978 – Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, Yale University • 1979 – Fellowship of American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters • 1981 – John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation award • 1986 – Honorary doctorate of literature from Oxford University • The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence • 1986 – National Book Critics Award for Criticism, for Less Than One (essay collection) • 1987 – Nobel Prize • 1989 – Honorary doctorate from the University of Essex • 1989 – Honorary degree from Dartmouth College • 1991 – honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities at Uppsala University, Sweden • 1991 – United States Poet Laureate • 1991 – Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award • 1993 – Honorary degree from the University of Silesia in Poland • Honorary member of the International Academy of Science, Munich ==Works==

Poetry collections • 1967: Elegy for John Donne and Other Poems, selected, translated, and introduced by Nicholas William Bethell, London: Longman • 1968: Velka elegie, Paris: Edice Svedectvi • 1972: Poems, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis • 1973: Selected Poems, translated from the Russian by George L. Kline. New York: Harper & Row • 1977: A Part of Speech • 1977: Poems and Translations, Keele: University of Keele • 1980: A Part of Speech, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 1981: Verses on the Winter Campaign 1980, translation by Alan Myers.–London: Anvil Press • 1988: To Urania: Selected Poems, 1965–1985, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 1996: So Forth: Poems, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 1999: Discovery, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 2000: Collected Poems in English, 1972–1999, edited by Ann Kjellberg, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 2001: Nativity Poems, translated by Melissa Green–New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 2020: Selected Poems, 1968–1996, edited by Ann Kjellberg, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Essay and interview collections • 1986: Less Than One: Selected Essays, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award) • 1992: Watermark, Noonday Press; New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reflecting the writer's love affair with Venice, where he stayed at least 20 times. • 1995: On Grief and Reason: Essays, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 2003: Joseph Brodsky: Conversations, edited by Cynthia L. Haven. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi Literary Conversations Series. Plays • 1989: Marbles: a Play in Three Acts, translated by Alan Myers with Joseph Brodsky. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux • 1991: Democracy! in Granta 30: New Europe, translated by Alan Myers and Joseph Brodsky. ==In film==

• 2008 – A Room And A Half (, Poltory komnaty ili sentimental'noe puteshestvie na rodinu), feature film directed by Andrei Khrzhanovsky; a fictionalized account of Brodsky's life. • 2015 – Brodsky is not a Poet (, Brodskiy ne poet), documentary film by Ilia Belov on Brodsky's stay in the States. • 2018 – Dovlatov (), biographical film about writer Sergei Dovlatov (who was Joseph Brodsky's friend) directed by Aleksei German-junior; film is set in 1971 in Leningrad shortly before Brodsky's emigration and Brodsky plays an important role. ==In music==

The 2011 contemporary classical album Troika includes Eskender Bekmambetov's critically acclaimed, song cycle "there ...", set to five of Joseph's Brodsky's Russian-language poems and his own translations of the poems into English. Victoria Poleva wrote Summer music (2008), a chamber cantata based on the verses by Brodsky for violin solo, children choir and Strings and Ars moriendi (1983–2012), 22 monologues about death for soprano and piano (two monologues based on the verses by Brodsky ("Song" and "Empty circle"). ==Collections in Russian==

• 1965: Stikhotvoreniia i poemy, Washington, D.C.: Inter-Language Literary Associates • 1970: Ostanovka v pustyne, New York: Izdatel'stvo imeni Chekhova (Rev. ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis, 1989) • 1977: ''Chast' rechi: Stikhotvoreniia 1972–76'', Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1977: Konets prekrasnoi epokhi : stikhotvoreniia 1964–71, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1977: V Anglii, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1982: Rimskie elegii, New York: Russica • 1983: Novye stansy k Avguste : stikhi k M.B., 1962–1982, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1984: Mramor, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1984: Uraniia : Novaia kniga stikhov, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis • 1989: Ostanovka v pustyne, revised edition, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ardis, 1989 (original edition: New York: Izdatel'stvo imeni Chekhova, 1970) • 1990: Nazidanie : stikhi 1962–1989, Leningrad: Smart • 1990: ''Chast' rechi : Izbrannye stikhi 1962–1989'', Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura • 1990: Osennii krik iastreba : Stikhotvoreniia 1962–1989, Leningrad: KTP LO IMA Press • 1990: Primechaniia paporotnika, Bromma, Sweden : Hylaea • 1991: ''Ballada o malen'kom buksire'', Leningrad: Detskaia literatura • 1991: ''Kholmy : Bol'shie stikhotvoreniia i poemy'', Saint Petersburg: LP VTPO "Kinotsentr" • 1991: Stikhotvoreniia, Tallinn: Eesti Raamat • 1992: ''Naberezhnaia neistselimykh: Trinadtsat' essei'', Moscow: Slovo • 1992: Rozhdestvenskie stikhi, Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta (revised edition in 1996) • 1992–1995: Sochineniia, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond, 1992–1995, four volumes • 1992: Vspominaia Akhmatovu / Joseph Brodsky, Solomon Volkov, Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta • 1992: ''Forma vremeni : stikhotvoreniia, esse, p'esy'', Minsk: Eridan, two volumes • 1993: Kappadokiia.–Saint Petersburg • 1994: Persian Arrow/Persidskaia strela, with etchings by Edik Steinberg.–Verona: * Edizione d'Arte Gibralfaro & ECM • 1995: ''Peresechennaia mestnost ': Puteshestviia s kommentariiami'', Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta • 1995: V okrestnostiakh Atlantidy : Novye stikhotvoreniia, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 1996: Peizazh s navodneniem, compiled by Aleksandr Sumerkin. Dana Point, Cal.: Ardis • 1996: Rozhdestvenskie stikhi, Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta, revised edition of a work originally published in 1992 • 1997: Brodskii o Tsvetaevoi, Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta • 1998: ''Pis'mo Goratsiiu'', Moscow: Nash dom • 1996 and after: Sochineniia, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond, eight volumes • 1999: Gorbunov i Gorchakov, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 1999: Predstavlenie : novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, Moscow • 2000: Ostanovka v pustyne, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: ''Chast' rechi'', Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: Konets prekrasnoi epokhi, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: Novye stansy k Avguste, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: Uraniia, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: Peizazh s navodneniem, Saint Petersburg: Pushkinskii fond • 2000: ''Bol'shaia kniga interv'iu'', Moscow: Zakharov • 2001: Novaia Odisseia : Pamiati Iosifa Brodskogo, Moscow: Staroe literaturnoe obozrenie • 2001: Peremena imperii : Stikhotvoreniia 1960–1996, Moscow: Nezavisimaia gazeta • 2001: Vtoroi vek posle nashei ery : dramaturgija Iosifa Brodskogo, Saint Petersburg: Zvezda ==See also==