Notes on Anna Akhmatova. A set of 3 books

 

"Notes on Anna Akhmatova" by Lydia Chukovskaya is not only the best documentary-memoir work about the great Russian poet, but also one of the most important literary documents of the era. Meeting Anna Andreevna in line at the gates of... the Leningrad prison in 1938, Lydia Korneevna kept diary entries for several decades, which later formed three books. These are not reminiscences, but precisely a diary, notes for herself, in response to current events. The traits of Akhmatova's personality, her circle of friends, and the nature of literary interests are clearly outlined in them. The first book covers the terrible years of the Yezhovshchina. Lydia Chukovskaya's husband was shot in prison, and Anna Akhmatova's son awaits the verdict. During these years, Akhmatova created her "Requiem": writing poems on scraps of paper, giving them to Chukovskaya to remember, and instantly burning them. Following the Yezhovshchina - the war, evacuation to Tashkent. The second book is about the post-war years, Akhmatova's difficult life after the devastating resolution of 1946, her attempts to secure the release of her again-arrested son, her poems, her sharp and concise judgments about literature, about the times, about Russian history. The diary organically includes the marks of the time - the death of Stalin, the 20th Congress, the thaw, the rehabilitation of many wrongfully convicted, the campaign against Pasternak because of "Doctor Zhivago", his death, the beginning of new freezes. The third volume of "Notes" covers the period from January 1963 to March 5, 1966, the day of Anna Akhmatova's death. These are the years when the Khrushchev thaw came to an end. Anna Akhmatova's attempts to publish "Requiem" and "Poem Without a Hero" are unsuccessful. Lydia Chukovskaya fails in her efforts to publish her story "Sophia Petrovna". Joseph Brodsky is arrested, tried, and exiled. Many pages of this book are dedicated to Akhmatova's efforts on his behalf. Chukovskaya helps Akhmatova compile her collection "The Flight of Time", recording her stories about her triumphant trips to Italy and England. Each volume of "Notes" contains unique photographs and documents from Lydia Chukovskaya's archive.