The genius of solitude Joseph Brodsky

May 24 born, not afraid of this word, one of the greatest poets of the XX century, Joseph Brodsky. The man with a difficult life, but an extraordinary talent, managed to accidentally fall in love with the whole world in his poems. Just loudly and forcefully, timeless and fashion, his rhymes and now touches the finest strings of human soul. It teaches empathy, not dramatizing. Love, asking nothing in return. To live, not regretting anything. With gratitude to the poet we Website have prepared this post.

NachaloDetstvo Joseph Brodsky were in the siege of Leningrad, and he remembered him with great reluctance. He studied hard. So much so that in the eighth grade young Osya committed an act that dramatically changed his life - dropped out of school. In posleduyushih search of himself, he will try 13 different professions (miller, Geophysics technician, medic, fireman, photographer, an employee of the morgue) before finally stop at poetry.





With Father. 1951 Photo M. Wolpert. From the archive of MI Milchik.

... And if I
night I looked for a star on the ceiling,
it is, according to the rules of combustion,
He ran down his cheek on the pillow
faster than I make a wish.

Brodsky AhmatovaV twenty-one years of Brodsky met Anna Akhmatova. Thus began perhaps the most surprising and sincere friendship, which only knew Russian poetry. At the same verses to each other they did not interest them. There was no competition, a dispute between two generations, the eternal "better and worse." But there was something else, as Brodsky would later say so: « This is a long and difficult. This must be either kilometers or nothing at all ».







Judicial protsess13 March 1964 Brodsky was sentenced to punishment under "parasitism" - five years of forced labor in a remote area. These two famous court session of Brodsky were zakonspektirovat and widespread.

Judge: Your work experience?
Brodsky: About ...
Judge: We do not care "about»!
Brodsky: Five years.
Judge: Where did you work?
Brodsky: The plant. The geological parties ...
Judge: How long have you worked at the factory?
Brodsky: Year.
Judge: Who?
Brodsky: Milling machine.
Judge: In general, what is your specialty?
Brodsky: The poet, the poet and translator.
Judge: Who is it recognized that you are a poet? Who are you ranked poets?
Brodsky: None. (No call). Who has ranked me to the human race?
Judge: Did you study this?
Brodsky: What?
Judge: To be a poet? Do not try to finish high school, where they cook ... where they teach ...
Brodsky: I did not think ... I did not think that it is given form.
Judge: And what?
Brodsky: I think it's ... (confused) of God ...
JUDGE: Do you have an application to the court?
Brodsky: I would like to know: what I was arrested?
Judge: It is a question, not an application.
Brodsky: Then I have no application.





The trial of Joseph Brodsky. 1964. Photo N.Yakimchuk.

Alone walking shoulder
should be changed when turning,
so as not dazzled and
the light from a bulb in the span
fell alternately on whiskey,
so the pupil felt narrowing.
This does not eliminate the boredom,
but save us from dizziness. 1964 em>

Disgraced poetBrodskogo sent to serve his sentence in the Arkhangelsk Region, the village Norenskaya. Later, he called the period of the happiest in my life. While working with the village peasants in the afternoon, in the evening, he read a lot, studied English poetry, and he wrote poetry. Telogreyka, chickens, creaky floors and other delights of rural life have benefited - Brodsky was arrested and exiled 23-year-old boys and 25-year-old returned to the established poet.





Exiled evening. From the archives of J. Gordin.

In the village of God does not live in the corners,
thought scoffers, and everywhere.
He sanctifies the roof and utensils
and honestly door bisects.
In the village it is - in excess. The iron
He cooks on Saturdays lentils,
was dancing sleepily in the fire,
He winks at me as an eyewitness.
He puts a fence. Throws
the damsel by the forester. And jokingly
arranges eternal undershoot
Rangers, shoot a duck.
The possibility of watching all of this,
listening to the whistling of the autumn,
only, in general, the grace,
available in the village atheist. 1965 em>

EmigratsiyaPosle return from exile and the party Rodina Joseph suffered another 7 years. Then the poet put before a choice: immediate emigration, or interrogations, prison and mental hospital, after which he had "lucky" to get through. He chooses the first board a plane and becomes "a visiting poet" in the University of Michigan. Ended incomplete 8 high school Brodsky leads the life of a professor, teaches the history of Russian literature, Russian and world poetry, theory of verse, lectures and poetry readings at international literary festivals and forums, libraries and universities in the US, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Sweden, Italy.





At the airport "Pulkovo" on the day of emigration. June 4th, 1972 file photo, MI Milchik.







Brodsky in New York. Photo by L. Losev ..



Not that I'm going crazy, but tired of the summer.
Shirt in the locker polezesh, and the day is lost.
Hurry to, whether that winter came and brought it all -
city, men, but to begin with - the greens.
I will not sleep undressed or read any
place someone else's book, for the time being remains of the year,
like a dog, escaped from the blind,
are moving in the right place asphalt.
Freedom -
is when you forget patronymic of the tyrant,
and the saliva in your mouth sweet halva Shiraz,
and even though your brain twisted as the ram's horn,
no drips of blue eyes. 1975 em>





With Vladimir Vysotsky. From the archives of EB and NV Rhine.







Brodsky during his lecture. Photos from the archives of the University of Michigan.







Brodsky with his female students. Photos from the archives of J. Gordin.







Awarding the Nobel Prize, 1987. Photos from the archives of EB and NV Rhine.



LyubovPervaya love Brodsky was miserable and painfully long. The young artist Marianna Basmanova after the break with the poet did not give their son any common family name, patronymic or father. He even from abroad consistently dedicated poems to her. But then the gray and deeply lonely Brodsky at a lecture at the Sorbonne noticed among his students Maria Sotstsani. Five years of life with a young Italian Russian origin have been happier for him than the previous fifty.





Joseph Brodsky and his wife Maria Sotstsani. Photo by Mikhail Baryshnikov.



Nowhere with love, Eleventh martobrya,
dear, dear, dear, but it does not matter
even someone, for facial, saying
frankly, I do not have to remember, not yours, but
and no one's true friend you are greeted with a
of the five continents holding a cowboy.
I loved you more than the angels, and most,
and so on are now
from you than from both of them.
Far away, late at night, in the valley, at the bottom,
in town, snow-covered at the door handle,
writhing on the sheets at night,
if not mentioned below, at least,
I whip pillow moaning "You»,
just around the corner, which end in sight,
in the darkness all over your features
how crazy mirror repeating. 1975 - 1976 em>





Joseph Brodsky and his daughter Anna, which he named in honor of Anna Akhmatova.







Brodsky in Venice. 1993 file photo MI Milchik.

Farewell,
Forget
and obessud.
A letter burn,
as a bridge.
So be brave
your way,
let him be straight
and easy.
Let it be in the darkness
for you burn
star tinsel,
Let there be hope
Palm warm
at your campfire.
Let there be a snowstorm,
snow, rain
and a mad roaring fire,
Yes you will have good luck ahead
more than I have.
May the mighty and beautiful fight,
rattling in your chest.
I am happy for those,
which you,
can be,
on the road. 1957 em>

SigaretyBrodskogo who has had three heart attacks, have repeatedly warned that smoking is the worst enemy of his patient's heart. But he not only continued to smoke, but smoking cigarettes the strongest, who also broke off filter. He once said: "Provided that you stop smoking, Joseph, you ten more years of life is guaranteed." What the poet said: «Life is wonderful precisely because there are no guarantees, no never»




Photos from the archives of the University of Michigan.







Only Brodsky lectures can be smoked.







Favorite gesture Brodsky when he was in a good mood. Photo by B. Yangfeldta.

Brodsky and cats

Brodsky adored cats and is often compared himself with them. Once he said: "Pay attention - the cats are no ugly movement." And in the words of the poet's friends, he often ends a phone conversation with family and friends, saying: "Meow Meow!". After his expulsion from the Soviet Union a significant part of his life the poet spent the US alone, when the only member of his family was a favorite cat named Mississippi.





Brodsky and cat Yasha.







Brodsky favorite cat Mississippi.



Saturday night in 1996, Brodsky and wished his wife good night, went up to his office. In the morning, there on the floor, and found his wife. Heart, according to doctors, stopped suddenly. On his grave in Venice, people still leave letters, poems, Camel cigarettes and whiskey. And the inscription on the monument reads - death not everything ends.



Photo source: Virtual Museum Brodsky







via br00.narod.ru/106.htm