Aleksandr Blok: A Life [Hardcover]

Nina Berberova (Author), Robyn Marsack (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1996

Alexander Blok (1880-1921), one of Russia's greatest modern poets, lived through a period in which a staid and traditional world was being destroyed and a new, often alarming utopia was being projected. A member of the intelligentsia and of the Russian landed aristocracy, Blok changed from being a detached observer of revolution into a committed servant of the Russian people. His early poetic mysticism gave way to the historical vision of his most famous poem, "The Twelve". This account of his life and art evokes the troubled world of the Russian intelligentsia, their illusions and their disarray in the face of revolution. Blok's complicated emotional life, his passion for his art, and his public stature are all conveyed here with economy, elegance and understanding.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This memoir by the St. Petersburg-born Berberova (1901-1993), a professor of Russian literature at Princeton University (The Italics Are Mine), will appeal most to those who are already familiar with her subject?intimately, at that. Only a couple of times does Berberova employ the first person. When Blok's life was coming to an end, she writes: "There were a dozen of us gathered around his death-bed." It is a shame Berberova didn't enliven her memoir with more such references. Instead, we are simply told that Blok is great, or his life became impossible. Although she provides some definitions and background information, she assumes we know much more than the nonspecialist would. As a result, Aleksandr Blok (1880- 1921), considered the greatest Russian poet of his age, second perhaps only to Pushkin, hardly comes alive on these pages, despite the author's adulation. And for all the background Berberova offers, she hardly mentions the four great contemporary Russian poets of this century who were strongly influenced by him: Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Pasternak and Tsvetaeva.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This short but intimate portrait of Blok (1880-1921) is an excellent example of biography as art. Berberova (The Italics Are Mine, LJ 4/15/92), who died in 1993, has eloquently depicted the life and times of the Symbolist movement's greatest poet. Though born to the aristocracy, Blok eventually espoused the ideals of the Russian Revolution and became one of the most prominent members of the early Soviet intelligentsia. Translator Marsack aptly calls this "an informal biography" and refers readers interested in a more comprehensive study to Avril Pyman's Life of Aleksandr Blok (1979). Despite its brevity, Berberova's observations of Blok and his milieu?some of which are firsthand?as well as the beauty of her prose make this an important addition to Blok scholarship. Highly recommended.?Diane G. Premo, SILS, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 145 pages
• Publisher: George Braziller; 1 edition (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807614084
• ISBN-13: 978-0807614082
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,092,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EXCELLENT BRIEF LIFE, August 5, 2008

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This review is from: Aleksandr Blok: A Life (Hardcover)

Nina Berberova has given us a fleeting sketch of Blok, but it tells us what we really need to know about the great Symbolist poet. It won't satisfy a reader looking for a full-scale scholarly biography but it will tell the general reader everything that they'll need to know about Blok before (hopefully) going on to read one of several fine translations of his poetry.