Nobel Prize winner and fifth U.S. poet laureate, Russian-born Joseph Brodsky (born Iosif Alexandrovich Brodsky; 1940-1996) was imprisoned for his poetry in the former Soviet Union but was greatly hono...
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Joseph Brodsky came of age in the Soviet Union during the "Thaw" period (late 1950s to early 1960s), and he has been widely recognized as the most gifted Russian poet of his generation. He is the dire...
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Critical Essay by Richard Lourie
In the poetry written in Russia since Stalin's death, Vinokurov's transparent simplicity and Voznesensky's near incantations define one set of ext...
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Critical Essay by R. D. Sylvester
Joseph Brodsky, perhaps the most interesting of contemporary Russian poets, is a moralist and an ironist concerned with the false values men live by in an age which h...
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Critical Essay by Byron Lindsey
[Brodsky] is no doubt the most important name in contemporary Russian poetry, both at home and in emigration. It is no new reputation, but stems from the 1960s, when th...
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Critical Essay by Henry Gifford
Since 1972 Iosif Brodsky, the most talented Russian poet of his generation, has been living in the United States. When some forty years ago Auden (whom Brodsky knew and...
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In the following essay, De Witt discusses Brodsky's appointment to U.S. poet laureate, focusing in particular on Brodsky's belief that poetry should be published much more widely.
Small ...
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Coeizee is a South African writer. In the mixed review of the essay collection On Grief and Reason below, he examines Brodsky's views on poetry and discusses the poet's relationship to R...
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Tolstaya is a Russian writer. In the following tribule, she discusses Brodsky's impact on Russian writers and literature, stating "Russian literature … has lost the greatest poet ...
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In the following review of On Grief and Reason, Greenbaum faults what she considers Brodsky's obscurity, sexism, and didacticism in the volume.
It starts innocently enough. Perusing a book of p...
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In the following positive review of On Grief and Reason, Harris discusses Brodsky's views on poetry.
An enigma strikes anyone who has read Russian literature and pondered Russia's histor...
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Heaney is an Irish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. In the tribute below, he fondly remembers Brodsky's passion for language and poetry.
Those who knew Joseph Brodsky...
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In the positive review of On Grief and Reason below, Kenner praises the title essay of the collection, stating that it is "probably the best piece ever written on the poetry of Robert Frost.&#x...
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In the following review of Watermark, Thwaite discusses Brodsky's descriptions of Venice.
Over the years, Venice hasn't lacked its literary memorialists and scene-setters, some of them a...
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In the essay below, Streitfield discusses Brodsky's term as U.S. poet laureate, focusing in particular on the poet's disgruntlement with the lack of support for the position.
Joseph Brod...
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In the essay below, Whedon contrasts Brodsky's poetry and essays, finding his verse obscure and emotionally distant in comparison to his essays, in which he finds "a sensitivity and intr...
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In the following excerpt from a comparative review of Brodsky's Watermark, Tony Tanner's Venice Desired, and Christopher Prendergast's Paris and the Nineteenth Century, Bowie prai...
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In the following essay, Patterson examines the theme of exile in Brodsky's works, stating that "Brodsky regards his exile not as a political condition but as an existential condition, on...
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In the positive review of Watermark below, Weisburg discusses Brodsky's metaphorical treatment of Venice.
Since the publication of his 1986 collection Less Than One, Joseph Brodsky has continue...
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In the obituary below, McFadden provides an overview of Brodsky's life and career.
Joseph Brodsky, the persecuted Russian poet who settled in the United States in the early 1970's, won t...
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Below, Well discusses Brodsky's life, particularly his experiences in the former Soviet Union.
Joseph Brodsky, 55, a poet exiled from the Soviet Union who went on to win the Nobel Prize for lit...
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Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Alexandrovich Brodsky
